Because of the "Biography of Zhen Huan", I think many people have a good understanding of the history of the Qing Dynasty, especially through film and television dramas, we will find that the Qing Dynasty as the last feudal dynasty, and was established by the Manchus, and the feudal dynasty established by the Han people is still different. The most obvious is that the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty have the word "bing" printed on the front chest and back of the uniform, and some of them have the word "brave", so that people do not understand why?
So how is the difference between "soldier" and "brave"? In fact, this seemingly subtle difference will become obvious after you understand the truth. During the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court had two important armies, the Eight Banner Army and the Green (LÙ) Battalion. The Eight Banner Army was mainly responsible for garrisoning the Beijing Division, while the Green Battalion Army was assigned to all parts of the country. Although the Green Camp Army was a Han Chinese army, its strength should not be underestimated, so it was still valued by the imperial court, so their members were professional soldiers, and their uniforms would have the word "bing" written on them. "Yong" refers to the non-professional soldiers recruited on the basis of the Green Camp Army, who are temporary participants from various industries, and these people will have the word "Yong" written on their clothing. Therefore, "soldier" and "brave" are actually the difference between the regular army and the temporary army (irregular army).
The Qing Dynasty was established for the Manchus, so the Manchus were respected and believed. The Eight Banner Army is the Manchu army, and the soldiers of this army are of course called "soldiers". And the soldiers of the Green Camp Army are Han Chinese, why are they also called "soldiers"? This has to start with its origins. In the early years of Shunzhi, in the process of conquest and unification, the Qing Dynasty incorporated the Ming army and other Han soldiers, referring to the old system of the Ming army, with the battalion as the basic unit, with the green flag as the symbol, called the green camp, also known as the green flag soldier. This contingent played a lot of role in the history of the Qing Dynasty, and the famous "San Fan Rebellion" in the history of the Qing Dynasty was greatly benefited by the Green Camp Army. Therefore, the soldiers of the Green Battalion Army can also be called "soldiers".
Of course, the balance of strength between them is not the imaginary stable decline from the Eight Banner Army to the countryside, but at different times, it is replaced by the other side. Although the Green Camp Army and the Eight Banner Army were the same regular "soldiers" and ate the same food and salary as the imperial court, the Bannermen were proud of their high status, liked to be pampered and superior, neglected training in peacetime, and had poor military discipline, resulting in low combat effectiveness, and gradually replaced by the Green Camp Army, and the later Green Camp Army was gradually corrupted internally, and its combat effectiveness was not as good as before, and it lost its position when it was seeking the White Lotus Sect, and later when it attacked the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it was no longer able to do so, at this time Zeng Guofan recruited the township to become a "Xiang Army" and won victory for the imperial court.
Xiang Yong is mainly a kind of temporary armed force, usually if there is no war, it is basically ordinary people, what to do when they go home, only in war or emergency do they need to play. Because they did not belong to the ranks of the official soldiers of the imperial court, in order not to be confused, they printed the word "yong" on their uniforms. The Qing Dynasty also has a record of township courage: the Qing "Suizhou Zhi Yuan Shu Biography": "Shu Ya Deng, advocate the first to stick to it." Hanging on the golden city, recruiting village braves. ”
Before we understand these historical truths, we may be confused by the superficial meaning of these two words, "soldier" seems ordinary, and "brave" means brave, which will make people mistakenly think that "brave" is a more courageous army than "soldier". This is not the case. And these two words can also be viewed from another angle. The word "bing" indicates its identity, unambiguously and very affirmatively, while the word "brave" is a single adjective, not as accurate as the word "bing".
Of course, in the hundreds of years of autonomy in the Qing Dynasty, although there was only a one-word difference, the status of soldiers was always higher than that of yong, because they belonged to the status of orthodox soldiers. However, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, "Yong" gradually replaced "soldiers" and became the main military force of the Qing Dynasty. The Xiang Army, the Huai Army, the Chu Army, etc., which we are familiar with, had a pivotal position in the late Qing Dynasty.