In the eyes of history buffs, the most capable of fighting in ancient armies should be the relatives of military generals or high-ranking officials. As the emperor's pro-army, that is, the Imperial Forest Army, which is said in the anecdote or in novels or film and television dramas. They are under the impression that this is often the elite of the elite.
In history, there are indeed many imperial pro-army forces with very elite combat effectiveness, such as the Xuanjia Army in the hands of Tang Taizong Li Shimin. There was also the Xiaoguo Army formed by his cousin Emperor Sui. The combat effectiveness of the Xiaoguo Army, Leng Yan, had previously established that the famous Wagang hero was almost crushed by the Xiaoguo Army after using various tactics under favorable conditions in the sky, place, and people.
But with such an army, it was no longer enough before the end of the dynasty, and in the end the fighting power was not as good as that of ordinary peasants. They were the Southern Song Dynasty's Three Yas' army. During the Jing Kang period, the Jurchens destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty. And the original temple front army also collapsed. When the Southern Song Dynasty court gained a foothold in the south, it had a bad impression of the previous Miao-Liu mutiny, so Emperor Gaozong of Song rebuilt the original Three Yas.
First, in the fifth year of Shaoxing (1135 AD), Yang Yizhong's Shenwu Army was changed to the Dianqian Si Army. In the early days, the Shenwu Army consisted of only 5,000 men, and has since expanded. In the ninth year of Shaoxing, the former division of the palace had 13 commanders, 21 commanders, and 178 principals, deputies, and preparations. In the eighteenth year of Shaoxing (1148 AD), its strength increased to more than 70,000 people, and it had jurisdiction over 12 armies. After that, Emperor Gaozong of Song continued to expand the three divisions, and in the seventh year of Shaoxing (1137 AD), he formed the Guards Horse Army Division, a total of 6 armies, a total of 12 generals, 6,000 people. In the thirty-first year of Shaoxing (1161 AD), the army increased to 30,000 people.
In the twelfth year of Shaoxing (1142 AD), Zhao Zhuo established the Infantry Division of the Guards, and organized the Five Armies under the jurisdiction of the Twenty-ninth Year of Shaoxing (1159 AD). During the reign of Emperor Xiaozong, it was stipulated that it was 23,000 people, with jurisdiction over 5 armies, and 4,600 people who retained the Northern Song Dynasty's ban and 7 command of van soldiers. Therefore, at that time, the Southern Song Dynasty Lin'an had a garrison of nearly 130,000 at its peak. Later, in the seventh year of Qiandao (1171 AD), the chancellor Yu Yunwen asked the guards ma junsi Shu Jiankang to prepare for the Northern Expedition, and only the total troops of the two divisions of the temple and the infantry were left in Lin'an Province, totaling nearly 100,000 troops. Because of the weak strength of the Guard Infantry Division, the Dianqian Military Division was the backbone of the Southern Song Dynasty Lin'an Defense Force, responsible not only for guarding Lin'an City but also for defending the Southern Song Emperor.
Logically, such a major task is naturally entrusted to a reliable person, and that reliable person is Yang Cunzhong. Emperor Gaozong of Song had great trust in Yang Cunzhong, and when Yang Cunzhong was building a mansion, someone suggested that he drink water in the mansion, and Song Gaozong specially allocated him soldiers to help him work, and it must be better to be in trouble if he was known by Wen Chen. It can be seen that Emperor Gaozong of Song had great trust in Yang Cunzhong, and from the historical records, Yang Cunzhong was indeed very good at things, otherwise he would not have climbed from Zhang Jun's general to almost the same level as Zhang Jun in the end. But like Zhang Jun, Yang Cunzhong also has many problems. For example, Wang Shipeng pointed out that Yang Cunzhong wantonly arrested people as soldiers and robbed people's women. Moreover, Yang Cunzhong is greedy for money. In the last years of Shaoxing, after Being boycotted, Yang Yizhong took the initiative to offer 22 large and small wineries, worth 725,000 yuan. In addition, there are more than 39,000 acres of land in Chuzhou. In contrast, Yue Fei's field yield is only 1985 acres.
▲Yang Cunzhong
In fact, Yang Cunzhong was also a fierce general in the early days, but under the environment of the Southern Song Dynasty, it was drunk in this dynasty. When he was in charge of the dianqian army, he only knew that he was amassing wealth and not governing the army, and he was also inflamed in the face of Qin Ju and Song Gaozong. Therefore, although the officials are getting bigger and bigger, the people are becoming more and more mediocre. This was because he knew Yue Fei's fate. He himself had participated in the trapping of Yue Fei, and he was also a supervisor of Yue Yun and Zhang Xian. Therefore, for the sake of glory and wealth, he can only do that.
▲ Song Gaozong
Because of Yang Cunzhong's poor management, an embarrassing thing happened during the Song Xiaozong period. At that time, the Privy Counsellor undertook Wang's suggestion that there were many vacancies in the Palace and The Second Division, and it was planned to recruit three thousand people per division. As a result, the temple front division directly arrested the citizens as soldiers, and many soldiers took the opportunity to grab money. (The former secretary of the temple has arrested the city people, the capital is in turmoil, and the plundered people have broken their fingers, showing that they are not available.) Soldiers are crowded, because of the people's wealth) Is this an army or a bandit?
▲Southern Song Dynasty Lin'an City
▲ Song Ningzong
By the time of Emperor Ningzong of Song, the Southern Song Dynasty at that time was basically already in the hands of those villains and the disciples. At that time, Hua Yue commented on these people in the above book: Shuang, Yi, and Ruyi Zhu Li were greedy and unscrupulous, Ni, Qi, Zhuo, and Gao Guo's anointing was useless, Zhu Wu's pampering was arbitrary, Zhu Peng's Yong was not xiao, Huang Fubin, Wei Youyi, Mao Zhitong, and Qin Shifu's carved military heart and morale were so bad that Chen Xiaoqing, Xia Xingzu, Shang Rong, and Tian Junmai were all made of the material of a pawn, and each had to be despotic, and the plains were carved with blood, and the people of Qin Shifu were so obvious that the hungry and cold people were willing to eat their flesh and could not get it. The point here is guo ni, who is also a disciple of the general. On weekdays, he thinks of himself as Zhuge Liang. However, the level did not dare to compliment, before the army was pulled out, his palace commander under him gave the impression of being loose. His younger brother Guo Zhuo was even worse, when the Zhongyi army and Tian Junmai's vanguard army attacked Suzhou, because the Zhongyi army was dominated by two Huai people, and the enthusiasm for fighting was much higher than that of the Dianqian army, and the loyal and righteous army climbed to the head of the city and looked like they were about to fight. As a result, at this time, Guo Zhuo arrived with soldiers. Because of jealousy, put a cold arrow behind your teammates...
What kind of combat effectiveness this army is, it is easy for everyone to guess the ending. During the Kaixi Northern Expedition, they were directly attacked by the Jin Dynasty from Huaibei to the Yangtze River. In the end, the Southern Song Dynasty handed over han nongxuals' heads to his nephews and uncles; increased the number of coins and silver by 50,000 yuan each; and Song Nashi's silver was 3 million taels and gold. That's the deal and success. According to Yuan Fu, "In the matter of Kaixi Bingyin, those who abandon the armor and drag the soldiers and leave are all thick to the county officials on weekdays." In the meantime, most of the people who made a little meritorious contribution to themselves and controlled the Pass were brave, militiamen, crossbowmen, Xionghuai, and dared to kill the ears of the Nagisa Army. ”
That is to say, the so-called "Royal Forest Army" or Janissary Army, which theoretically had the strongest combat effectiveness and the best treatment in the Southern Song Dynasty, was not as effective as the armed peasants on the border of the Southern Song Dynasty. In the end, the Southern Song Dynasty also re-formed a new army based on these militias, and the New Army of the Southern Song Dynasty made the Mongols suffer a lot.
This article is the original manuscript of the Cold Weapons Research Institute. The original outline of the editor-in-chief, the author of the double-tailed cat, any media or public account without written authorization shall not be reproduced, and the offender will be investigated for legal responsibility.