Ancient China was plagued by wars, and even during the most powerful period, there were inevitably strong enemies or internal rebellions. At this time, the Central Plains Dynasty had to send troops to fight and make a big move.
But the period of great power will always pass, if the Central Plains Dynasty does not have enough troops and strength to quell the rebellion or resist foreign humiliation, then what should the rulers of the dynasty do? Of course, the top brass of the dynasty often did not tie their hands, and the ministers of the ministry of state would think of "borrowing troops".
In this case, where do soldiers come from? Is there really someone who is so kind and "borrows soldiers" for you to fight for no reason? What if the whole army is destroyed?
I. What is "Borrowing Soldiers"
The so-called "borrowing soldiers" means "borrowing the soldiers of others to fight for oneself, and with the borrowing of soldiers." This is a tactic of war, a way to defeat a powerful enemy when you are weak. The tradition of "borrowing soldiers" has existed for a long time.
As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Ping of Zhou had borrowed troops from Inuyasha and captured Hojing. In the "Records of History", there is also a record that "the king of Han borrowed troops and went east". This shows that as early as 2,000 years ago, China's feudal rulers had learned to "borrow troops" to fight.
If the feudal dynasty was still in a unified period, if the rulers of the Central Plains Dynasty wanted to "borrow troops", then either the internal turmoil was excessive, or the foreign enemy invaded too strongly, so they could only borrow from the relatively friendly "barbarian" tribes in the surrounding area. As mentioned above, king Zhou Ping's borrowing of troops from Inuyasha is a typical case of the Central Plains Dynasty "borrowing troops" from the surrounding "barbarian" tribes.
And if in the period of dynastic division and civil strife, Hao Jie, who has the great ambition to unify the world, wants to achieve his grand hegemony by "borrowing troops", then he will generally "borrow troops" from princes or clan kings who have more power than himself. For example, in the early days of Liu Bang's army, he borrowed 5,000 soldiers and horses from Xiang Yu's uncle Xiang Liang.
It can be seen that the tradition of "borrowing soldiers" has existed in ancient times, which can not only make oneself small and broad, but also enhance one's own strength in disguise. With such huge benefits, what are the risks behind it?
You must know that the "borrowing soldiers" borrow people, and on the battlefield, the sword has no eyes, and there must be personnel injuries. If it is a victorious battle, it is better to say that the winner can naturally replenish the source of troops, so what if the battle is lost? People are dead, so how can these borrowed soldiers be returned?
In fact, "borrowing troops" comes at a price.
Second, the cost of "borrowing troops"
In ancient times, soldiers were actually trading chips for rulers.
Rulers don't really care much about the lives of their soldiers, they care less about the benefits they can get. Therefore, the matter of "borrowing soldiers" to others is not so difficult for them, as long as they give enough benefits. For example, during the Anshi Rebellion, Emperor Suzong of Tang sent a large army back and forth to the Lu Khanate to help the Li Tang regime quell the civil unrest, which prevented the Tang Dynasty from dying at the hands of foreign nationalities.
In the Old Book of Tang, it is recorded: "Although the shang used the people of Shuofang, they wanted to borrow troops from the outside to zhang's military position."
The reason why the Uighur Khanate agreed to borrow troops was because Tang Suzong promised to crown the Uighur Khan, and also rewarded a large amount of gold and silver treasures, and even sent a princess to make peace, and the Uighur Khanate agreed to send troops.
The Uighur Khaganate only agreed to "borrow troops" because of the benefits, so in history, did it promise to "borrow troops" without benefits? Yes, there is.
As mentioned above, King Zhou Ping borrowed troops from Inuyasha, and did not promise any benefit to Inuyasha. So, why did Inuyasha borrow troops?
In fact, it was because Inuyasha hated Western Zhou very much. In the "Records of History", it is recorded that "banished Rong and yijingluo to the north", after King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang, because he was not confident about inuyasha living in the interior, he moved him to a bitter cold place in the north far from the Central Plains.
This was the reason why Inuyasha hated Western Zhou, so when King Zhouping's uncle Shen Hou came to the door, Inuyasha agreed to "borrow troops" without saying a word, and finally successfully captured the Western Zhou capital City of Hojing and killed King Zhou You.
But this time "borrowing troops", didn't the Zhou Dynasty have to pay any price?
In fact, after killing King You of Zhou, Inuyasha did not retreat to the north as agreed in advance, but instead plundered in Hojing, destroying the foundation of the Zhou Dynasty for hundreds of years, and the land of Qi and Feng was even more invaded, and the King of Zhou Ping had to move east to Luoyi, and Western Zhou was destroyed from then on.
Therefore, "borrowing soldiers" not only has to pay a huge price, but also may "lure wolves into the house" and threaten the foundation of their own rule. In history, there are many examples of Zhou Pingwang "borrowing soldiers" in Dogs.
During the Western Jin Dynasty, the government was chaotic, and the princes of various places fought and fought back and forth in order to compete for power, and found that there were no soldiers to fight in their hands, so they began to borrow troops from foreign tribes - Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, borrowed troops from the Xiongnu, Sima Teng, the emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty, borrowed troops from Wuhuan, and the state assassin Liu Kun borrowed troops from Xianbei, and the more they borrowed, the more they borrowed, and finally the entire Central Plains was the rule of Hu bing.
And these Hu soldiers also gradually found out the bottom line of the Central Plains, and found that the Central Plains troops were empty, and they had no strength to resist them. Therefore, after the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, it was the beginning of the Wuhu Southward Movement, the Central Plains land sank, the crown crossed the south, and the Western Jin Dynasty was destroyed.
It can be seen that the demise of the two dynasties of the Western Zhou and Western Jin Dynasties and the "borrowing of troops" are inseparable.
Therefore, "borrowing soldiers" can be borrowed and repaid, and cannot be denied. The simplest price to be paid for "borrowing troops" is to replenish the soldiers and send them back, but this situation is very rare, and it is generally a promise of high-ranking officials and the cession of the territory. And if the borrowed party has ambitions, then it may be their own inheritance.
But since everyone knows that "borrowing troops" will bring a painful price, why do people still try this method?
Third, the bitter lessons that have occurred time and again
Because everything is both profit and risk. Most of them are monarchs, princes, and commanders, and they naturally know the risks brought about by "borrowing troops", but for the sake of Hongtu hegemony, they still bite their teeth and borrow.
There are naturally successful examples in history, such as the aforementioned Uighur Khaganate "borrowing troops" to help the Tang, and the Li Tang regime did not perish, but achieved "Zhongxing". But in fact, the reason why the Tang Dynasty was able to suppress the surrounding tribes and did not make them feel different was related to the prestige of the Tang Dynasty, and even then Tang Suzong had to canonize the Hui Khan and marry the young daughter Princess Ningguo to Hui And kiss.
And it is these few successful examples that make these tyrants feel that they can fight, and these painful lessons will happen repeatedly. Since the Tang Dynasty, there have been countless examples of endless harm caused by "borrowing troops".
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the then Later Tang general Shi Jingyao, in order to rebel, "borrowed troops" from the Khitan to destroy the Later Tang and establish the Later Jin. However, Shi Jingyao ceded the Sixteen Continents of Yanyun to the Khitan for this purpose, and since then the Central Plains Dynasty has no danger to defend, which has had a great impact on the Song Dynasty, and eventually led to the death of the Song Dynasty at the hands of foreign tribes.
In modern times, in order to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing Dynasty government also borrowed troops from the Western powers, thus "luring wolves into the house", resulting in the loss of sovereignty. The great powers were not uncommon for the Qing Dynasty to be rewarded with titles, and they wanted commercial and political rights. As soon as the Qing government "borrowed troops" from the great powers, they were able to send troops in China in a bright and upright manner and participate in china's civil war, providing a reason for them to meddle in China's internal affairs.
Therefore, in ancient China, the matter of "borrowing soldiers" has always been borrowed and repaid, if you can't afford it, then it is possible to even lose the foundation, and the "borrowed" soldiers are likely to be anti-customer-oriented, and in turn invade the "borrowed soldiers" people. Therefore, the ancients have always been extremely cautious about "borrowing soldiers", and if they are not careful, they will be "doomed".
Text/Leyu
Resources:
1. "The Gains and Losses of Borrowing Soldiers from Pingkou: A Brief Discussion on Hui Hui to Help Tang Quell the Anshi Rebellion", Dong Wenyang
2. "The Xiangjun Group and "Borrowing Troops to Help Suppress"", Zhang Fuqiang