The issue of height, whether ancient or modern, is very important. Looking at it, whether it is school admissions, company recruitment, or special occupations, the height requirements for people are clear at a glance. Many times, whether it is work or love, there are always people who are very demanding on height.
However, for the complaints about their height, they do not have to worry too much. If you know what the ancients did, you will have a lot of balance in your mind. Because in ancient times, height was one of the criteria for judging whether a person was an adult, and it had a direct correlation between the severity of the sentence imposed for the crime and the amount of salary.
The Zhou Li records that "seven feet is the year of twenty, and six feet is the fifteenth year", and the Qin Dynasty inherited the measurement methods of the Zhou Dynasty. In the Qin Dynasty, the law stipulated that adults at the age of 15 were required to undertake military service and pay various taxes. In fact, the criterion for judging whether to become an adult is height, less than six feet is a minor, and the punishment will be mitigated at the time of conviction. It is equivalent to the modern protection of minors, which began to be implemented during the Qin Dynasty.
If you live in the Qin Dynasty, you don't want to grow too tall. Then by the time of Emperor Renzong of Song, most of the soldiers probably felt that they were a little short. This is because When Song Renzong paid military salaries, he had a relatively different requirement. He pays military salaries not on military merit but on height, and tall people can get more military salaries.
Some people may feel that this request is a bit strange, not in line with Song Renzong's identity as a generation of Ming Emperors, this kind of requirement is simply a bit of a drama. In fact, for the social situation at that time, there was still a certain degree of truth.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the main combat strength was the forbidden army. This has a lot to do with the founding emperor Zhao Kuangyin, who for the sake of the stability of his own power, "cup of wine to release the military power" to minimize the power of other generals, so that the army is in the hands of the emperor. Therefore, the emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty had very high requirements for the forbidden army.
The "History of Song Bingzhi" wrote: "The military system of the Song Dynasty is probably three: the guards of the Son of Heaven, to guard the Beijing Division, to prepare for conscription, and to prohibit the army. It can be seen that the forbidden army at that time was the main armament force. In the early days of the song dynasty, the combat effectiveness of the forbidden army was very high, because they were all polished on the battlefield.
However, in the song renzong period, there were many noble sons in the forbidden army, these people did not suffer since they were born, and after the forbidden army, they did not change their previous style, and gradually the atmosphere of the forbidden army was corrupted. Later, because wang Anshi changed the law, the atmosphere of corruption improved somewhat, but the fundamental problem was still not solved.
In order to make the forbidden army stronger, Song Renzong made a requirement for the height of the soldiers. In his opinion, tall people have an advantage, their strength will be much greater, and they can play a better role in fighting on the battlefield. When people recruit, they will be selective, and they will brush off a group of old, weak, sick and disabled people here at height. And the salary he gave was 5 feet 8 inches tall and earned a monthly salary of 1,000 yuan; above 5 feet 7 inches, with a monthly salary of 700 yuan; and above 5 feet 6 inches, with a monthly salary of 500 yuan.
I have to say that Song Renzong's consideration is also reasonable, military merit can be forged, but height can not be disguised, and what is fought on the battlefield is strength. This is straightforward and crude, but very effective. What do you think of this way of paying for height?
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