The military system of the Yuan Dynasty mixed a variety of factors from mongolia, the Central Plains, and the Southern Song Dynasty. The army was structured using the traditional Mongolian decimal system. The armies of the Yuan Dynasty were divided into the Mongol Army, the Tanma Red Army, the Han Army, and the New Annexed Army, which were basically divided according to ethnic ranks.
I. The Formation of the Army of the Yuan Dynasty
From the wokoutai to the Kublai Khan period, the ethnic composition of the Tanma Red Army continued to expand, including Tang Yuan, Tufan, Asok, Drinking Cha and other ethnic groups, and even some Han Chinese. The new annex was the army of the original Southern Song Dynasty, but it was also reorganized. All these armies were organized into cards (ten households), hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands.
"The officer of the army is named after the number of troops." The officers of the Yuan Dynasty, from the bottom up, called the Paitou, hundred households, thousand households, ten thousand households, and all ten thousand households; ten thousand households, and thousand households all set up Daru Huachi; at the same time, there were those who were called marshals, marshals, solicitors, and commanders.
Officers are hereditary. The assessment of officers has five aspects: there is a law for governing the army, the town is guarded without fear, the armor is perfect, the service is average, and the army has no escape. It is forbidden for officers to occupy envoys and "not to sympathize" with non-commissioned officers. In practice, however, the occupation and exploitation of military personnel by officers is very serious.
Both the Mongol army and the Tanma Red Army were cavalry. The Mongols and some Semites, as well as herders among the Han Chinese (including the Khitans and Jurchens), men over the age of fifteen and under the age of seventy, were organized, "and when they get on their horses, they prepare for battle, and when they get off their horses, they gather and graze." However, from the time of Kublai Khan, due to the large increase in the Han army, in the event of conquest, the Mongols were roughly only two dings signing one.
2. The conscription system for the military registration in the Yuan Dynasty
The Han army was mainly infantry, but also cavalry and sailors. At first, most of the Han armies were the armies of the Han dynasty princes, as well as the Khitan and Jurchen armies. After the destruction of the Jin Dynasty, the Mongol rulers signed up for the people in the Central Plains several times and were incorporated into the military. Sometimes it is stipulated that twenty dings sign one, sometimes it is stipulated that ten dings sign one, and in fact, more signs are signed.
By the eleventh year of the Yuan Dynasty (1274), there were more than 1.96 million households in the north, and at least one-sixth of the military households in the total, that is, more than 300,000 households. When signing the army, it is generally a middle household with strong strength, but when the middle household is insufficient, it is also expanded to the lower household. The Yuan court attached great importance to the stability of military status. Once it is signed as a military household, it cannot be changed. When the head of the household dies, or evades military service, the sub-ding (brother, son) will succeed him without a sub-ding, and replace it with a young man to drive the ding. Households are extinct, and then signed by the private households. This is a conscription system that establishes military status.
3. The treatment of the army in the Yuan Dynasty
Military households are exempted from the section, the field is exempted from taxation within four acres, and miscellaneous errands and hiring and buying can also be reduced. The main feudal obligation of military households was to undertake military service. Military service is often far from the countryside, and in addition to rations, materials, and clothing, military personnel on active duty have their own kurama horses, military supplies, and road expensive, and the burden is quite heavy. Therefore, among the military households, there are independent military households and there are also joint military households.
The combined military households are two, three or even five households combined into military households, and one household with strong strength is called the regular military household, and the rest of the households pay money and material allowances, called the military households. The regular military household and the posted military household are "the same household as the army", of which the main military household is the "military head" ("hutou"). The expenses of the soldiers and pawns of the household, which are jointly borne by the military households, are called the money of sealing (or pretending).
The new annex was reorganized from the Southern Song army, thus retaining the factor of the southern Song conscription system, which was different from the Han army. The whole family of the newly attached sergeant received rations, and after the death of the soldier, the family members left behind were still supported by the government. But at the same time, they do not enjoy the tax exemption of land within four hectares, and they have to pay land tax on a per-acre basis and bear miscellaneous labor.
In the Yuan Dynasty, there was a special agency to manage the families of soldiers, called "Oulu" (ancient language, originally meaning battalion, camp). The Oru officers of the Mongol Army and the Tanma Chi Army were subordinate to thousands of households and ten thousand households, and the Oulu officials of the Han Army were also subordinate to thousands of households and ten thousand households first, and then were also led by the local governor. The official of orus was to administer military households, issue military service, and collect money for feudal households.
Fourth, the entire army of the Yuan Dynasty was divided into two parts: Suwei and Zhenshu
The whole army was divided into two parts: Su Wei and Zhen Shu. Su Wei, in addition to the original cowardly Xue, Kublai Khan established many guards. Between 1262 and 1279, the Five Guards of the Right, Left, and Front were established, and the commander of the Wei was called the Commander of the Guards. Wei is equivalent to ten thousand households. Later, Kublai Khan and his successors were successively added, and by the end of the Yuan Dynasty, there were thirty-four guards.
Wei's pawns all chose the "brave ones" to serve. The earliest five guards were the Han Guards, and later many were the Semu Guards, such as Tang Yuanwei, Su Wei, Kang Liwei, Tie cha Wei, Xicheng Pro Army... Wait, and so on, and the Right Du Wei wei is composed of tanma red army. The main task of the Guards was to defend Dadu, Shangdu and their surrounding areas and to act as a central army to conquer rebellions or uprisings in various places.
From the perspective of the evolution of the system, the mixed nature of Wei is particularly noteworthy. The name "Wei" comes from the Tang system, the name of the chief of the Wei "Du Commander" comes from the Song system, and the establishment system under the Wei (Thousand Households, Hundred Households, and Pai) is derived from the Mongol system.
In addition to the Su army, the various armies were fighting in the key areas and frontiers of the country. The deployment of Zhenshu, "depending on the weight of the land and the number of them", had formed a basic pattern during the Kublai Khan period and had not changed since then. The Mongol Army, the Tanma Red Army, the Han Army, and the New Annex army were cross-stationed, and there were more Mongol troops and Tanma Red Army stationed in The belly and Henan Provinces, and more Han troops were stationed south of the Yangtze River, but the new annexed army was generally not stationed north of the Yangtze River. The Zhenshu army stationed in various places was under the command of two governors of each province, and they were generally Mongols and Semu people.
Both the Su Army and the Zhenshu Army were regular armies of the state, "maintaining each other inside and outside to control the situation of light and heavy." In addition, there were some "township soldiers", that is, local armies, such as the Liaodong Army, the Khitan Army, the Jurchen Army, the Goryeo Army, the Yunnan White Army, and the Fujian Army. In addition, there are "archers" in Beijing and prefectures and counties, responsible for preventing "thieves" from catching "thieves". The archer takes one of the middle households from every hundred households counted as the pawnbroker, and the difference in taxes and grains of the household is exempted and divided by the remaining ninety-nine households. The archers were under the jurisdiction of the Terracotta Division of the Beijing Division and the Inspection Department of the Prefecture and County, and were only local security personnel.
The Privy Council of the Yuan Dynasty was in charge of all the armies except Xue Xue
The Privy Council commanded the Guards and supervised the governors of the provinces. The Privy Councillors of the Song Dynasty were civil officials and had only the power of dispatch. The Privy Councillor of the Jin Dynasty was not limited to civilian officials, but had roughly the same power as in the Song Dynasty. The power of the Privy Council of the Yuan Dynasty was expanded, not only with the power to transfer the will, but also to directly control the army and appoint officers. That is to say, in the Yuan Dynasty, some of the power of the Bingbu was transferred to the Privy Council, and the Bingbu was only in charge of the Tunmu of the County.
In the center, military power was concentrated in the Privy Council, and the chief officer of the Privy Council could only be Mongols and Semites. Locally, the army was under the jurisdiction of the Mongols and Semites in the provinces, and most of the generals of the zhenshu army in the key areas were also important subjects of the Mongol emperors. Therefore, the military system of the Yuan Dynasty not only ensured the source of soldiers, used and co-opted the military talents among the Han southerners, but also enabled the Mongol nobles and the upper echelons of the Semu to tightly control the military power.
The ancient army was an instrument of class oppression, and so was the army of the Yuan Dynasty. At the same time, the army of the Yuan Dynasty was a tool of national oppression, and even the army itself was painted with a layer of national hierarchy.