Zhihua talks about history, and history talks about itself. Welcome everyone to [follow] me, talk about the past and the present, and discuss the general trend of the world.
Xuanzong was determined to open the border, in addition to the implementation of heavy rewards and heavy punishments in the process of warfare to encourage soldiers, but also from the ideological point of view to encourage the spirit of martial arts.
For example, in March of the 19th year of Kaiyuan (731 AD), the first order of the two capitals and prefectures each set up the Taigong Temple, and selected the ancient famous generals Qi Da Sima Tian Yu Tho, Wu General Sun Wu, Wei Xihe Taishou Wu Qi, Yanchang Guojun Le Yi, Qin Wu Anjun Bai Qi, Han Huai Yin Hou Han Xin, Shu Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, Tang Dynasty Shangshu right servant shot Wei Guo Gong Li Jing and Sikong British Gong Li Tao called the Ten Philosophers, ordered the second and eighth Shangwu sacrifices, and the method was the same as the sacrifice to Confucius.
Sima Guang, the author of Zizhi Tongjian, was very dissatisfied with Xuanzong's approach, and commented on it:
"If the special training is carried out with courage and does not make them know the etiquette and righteousness, it will not be done by ridicule! Since Sun and Wu have all won with courage and snipe, how can they be counted in the gate of the sages and be called martial arts! ”
Sima Guang stood in the position of Confucianism to comment on Xuanzong's martial measures, and Xuanzong mentioned the martial spirit from the needs of frontier policy. Although Xuanzong's policy of opening the border and the martial spirit have their own side of great joy, they have their own objective practical needs. Sima Guang completely denied Xuanzong's approach, which may not be the case.
1. Why did the government and military system collapse?
In addition to adopting the above-mentioned methods, Xuanzong mainly abolished the government soldiers, changed the cavalry, added the Jiedu envoys, and expanded their powers, and carried out various changes in the military system.
The military system was inherited from the Western Wei Dynasty, the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and the Sui Dynasty, and was a military system that integrated soldiers and peasants. Those who serve as government soldiers must serve in the military for life, under the command of the commander of Zhichong, regularly stay in the Beijing Division, guard the border, and need to prepare their own food, and their preferential conditions are that they can be exempted from rent.
Therefore, the country raises troops without a huge burden of military spending. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, it was prosperous with soldiers, which is well-known. Interestingly, from the Tang Dynasty to the heyday, the government military system was completely destroyed, and its name was the establishment of the conscription system (彍cavalry, Long March athletes) and the Jiedu envoy, which was about the time from the Jingyun period of Ruizong to the ninth year of Xuanzong's Kaiyuan.
This was mainly the inevitable result of the change in the military situation on the border at that time.
Starting with Gaozong, the border defense line of the Tang became longer and longer. In the northeast, Andong had to garrison heavy troops to deal with Goryeo, and later stationed large troops in Yingzhou and Youzhou in Hebei Province to deal with Xi and Khitan.
In the west, in order to deal with the Turks and Tibetans, the defense area was extended longer and deeper, starting from the Hedong Road that was connected with the Hebei Province, from east to west, there were Hedong, Shuofang, Hexi, Longyou, Anxi, and Beiting towns, and the southwest extended to Jiannan. On the defensive line that stretched for tens of thousands of miles, the number of garrisons required was greatly increased.
As a matter of fact, when the war is tense, the border areas often need to increase a large number of troops; at the same time, the war is protracted, and the casualties are not small, and a large number of replenishments and replacements are also needed.
At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, all the government soldiers in the country were only about 600,000, of which at least more than 100,000 were needed to guard the Guanzhong Beijing Division, so the original number of government soldiers was far from meeting the needs of border wars.
At the same time, from the perspective of the border situation, since the late Wu Zetian period, Xi, Khitan, Turkic, and Tibetan are all in a period of strength, and the Tang army has suffered many defeats in many large-scale battles, sometimes even defeated.
Obviously, the Tang army did not have a great advantage for a considerable period of time. Therefore, the Tang army had to switch from temporary conquest to long-term garrison defense.
However, the original temporary conscription of government soldiers in the event of a war not only lasted a short time, but as soon as the war ended, the army could be dismissed and the peasants could be reinstated, and because of the victory, they could also be captured. At this time, not only was it difficult to determine the victory or defeat of the battle, but he was also ordered to garrison the town at the end of the battle. One observance is decades, and the original three-year rotation of laws and regulations is useless.
Therefore, the government soldiers have been on the road for many years, and almost all of them have gone to the front line, and there is no one to change the guard. As a result, many government soldiers did not return and died at the border.
The famous poet Du Fu once borrowed the story of a veteran soldier and wrote:
"Or from the fifteenth north defense river, then to the forty west camps. When I went, I was wrapping my head, and when I returned, my gray hair was still on the edge. ”
It can be seen from this that the government soldiers have almost become lifelong "compulsory soldiers", completely abandoning the original principle of combining soldiers and peasants.
2. Why did the government military system collapse?
In addition to garrisoning the border, the government soldiers also have to undertake the task of guarding the Beijing Division. Originally, it was also replaced on a regular basis. Due to the shortage of troops on the border, the government soldiers of the Suwei Jing Division could not be rotated.
In addition, the imperial court originally received high rewards and favors for the government soldiers, but after a long time, the court did not handle the treatment of the government soldiers in accordance with the regulations, and lost the support of the government soldiers.
Especially during the Zhongzong period, Guanzhong was hungry, and even the soldiers of the Jingshi Guards actually let them eat leaves and grass roots. In this way, how can they be asked to defend the Jingshi?
Not only that, but the prefects who managed the government soldiers and the nobles and bureaucrats in the capital even arbitrarily made the government soldiers engaged in heavy labor such as construction, making them undertake miscellaneous work that had nothing to do with military affairs, which greatly exceeded the obligations that the government soldiers should undertake.
From the head of the team, the favoritism, the general, the minister of the line, and even the sons of the gentlemen, the servants and concubines of the Yuan Rong, and the ink of the shogunate, they all have to call the soldiers of the government at will.
The soldiers who served in the capital were often sent to other jobs after their service expired. In short, the government soldiers have completely lost their original meaning, and have become slaves for free servitude.
No wonder, Wang Fuzhi sighed:
"Woohoo, government soldiers, there are so many soldiers that there are soldiers? ”
The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty are burdened, especially in the northwest, so it is incompetent to be a wealthy household with a considerable family background.
At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the inspection of households above the sixth grade was filled. After Gojong, with the destruction of the equalization system and the bankruptcy of homesteaders, the poor and weak households below the sixth grade were also filled.
"The Old Tang Book: The Biography of Xin Ti No" contains, Xin Ti No, when Ruizong was the left to fill the que, Shang Shu Chen Shizheng said:
"When the order is sent to the border, send a soldier to guard the community, many have no food and clothing, and they are all hungry and cold. Between the rewards, there is nothing to come out, and the army is suddenly defeated. ”
Obviously, it was difficult for the soldiers on the border to bring enough food and clothing, so they often suffered from hunger and cold, no wonder they suffered repeated defeats.
When it developed to Xuanzong, the situation was even more serious, and some border generals were greedy for the property of the government soldiers, and often resorted to cruel means to force the government soldiers to die quickly.
The "General Guide to Information Governance" contains:
Shuo Fang Jie Du made the cattle cyclamen "to accumulate wealth to get the prime minister (in the twenty-fourth year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty), the side will follow it, the Shandong soldiers are more self-contained, and the side will be lured to send it to the treasury, and the day is hard labor, and the night is in the dungeon, so that it is beneficial to die and not enter its wealth. Therefore, since Tianbao, there are no two or three people who have returned to Shandong, and their cruelty is like this. However, there has been no external rebellion and internal insults, killing the handsome and self-conscious, sincerely caring for the countryside, and fearing that the clan will be tired. ”
Therefore, the government military system has reached the point where it has to be changed by the time of Xuanzong. However, how to change it is a big question.
3. The origin of "Long March athletes" and "Wei Cavalry".
In the second year of Kaiyuan (714 AD), Xuanzong had an edict to recruit soldiers in the local, near and conscription customers.
In October of that year, Xue Ne defeated Tibet, and Xuanzong stopped his personal expedition and issued an edict saying:
"Compared with the army in the border town, the generation is changed every year, the soldiers do not know the generals, the generals do not know the soldiers, how can there be a tired road? ”
This was the earliest edict on conscription issued during the reign of Xuanzong. However, at this time, the recruitment was only a temporary supplement to the government soldiers, and was not institutionalized, and the power of recruitment was also controlled by the central government.
Later, with the need to strengthen the garrison defense of border towns, more and more soldiers were needed, so the proportion of recruited soldiers became larger and larger. This kind of recruitment was first called "warriors", and later commonly known as "athletes" and "Long March athletes".
The "Long March" means to defend the border for a long time.
In the beginning, most of the athletes were recruited from the Central Plains and sent to the frontiers, and later the number of years was stipulated, and the athletes were allowed to go home for leave in batches, just like the government soldiers were replaced in turn.
In December of the sixteenth year of Kaiyuan (728 AD), the edict said:
"Jian'er Changzhen, how can it be Kekan? It can be divided into five times, and it is washed once a year. Far from the ancestors for the first time, the cycle repeatedly. A total of five awards are awarded every five years. ”
Twenty-six years ago, another edict was issued:
"The military recruitment and athletes in the towns and towns of the world have been going on for a long time, and they are quite hardworking. or old and sick, or weak and poor, or old and lonely, causing morning and dusk. Words are in Si, and sighs deeply. It is advisable to make the military state simple. There is such a color, everything is put back. It is advisable to carefully review in order to praise me. ”
The purpose of Xuanzong's adoption of this method was to reduce the burden on the conscripts and to save the malpractice of "soldiers who do not know generals and will not know soldiers." This is contrary to the practice and purpose adopted by the government military system.
The reason for the frequent replacement of the military system in the border towns was to prevent the soldiers from being combined and forming a situation of separation, but this military system had to be changed when the border wars became more and more serious.
Judging from the situation in the early Kaiyuan Dynasty, Tang Xuanzong began to allow border towns and other military governors to recruit athletes in the local area on their own.
This means:
First, the power of recruiting troops has been gradually decentralized; second, the number of soldiers has been replaced by locals; and third, the athletes have been stationed on the border for a long time and will no longer be rotated. In the tenth year of Kaiyuan (722 AD), this kind of recruited "long-term border soldiers" was officially named "Long March athletes".
In the same year, Prime Minister Zhang Shuo extended this recruitment system to the Beijing division and guards, suggesting that "recruit strong men to serve as guards, regardless of color service, and give it a preferential system." ”
Within ten days of the history, that is, "130,000 elite soldiers, divided into guards, and even more up and down." The original name was "Changcong Suwei", and later it was named "Wei Qi".
4. The collapse of the government military system
The gradual institutionalization of the "Wei Cavalry" and the "Long March Athletes" meant the complete disintegration of the government soldiers.
In the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan (737 AD), Xuanzong:
"I think the world is safe, and it is better to rest with others. From now on, the armies will weigh the idle drama, the interests and the disadvantages, and put the troops to defend against the athletes. Recruit from all kinds of pedestrians and customers. Take Ding Zhuang who is willing to be a member of the border and live on the border. Every year, the regular practice is given, and it is also given to the eternal year. His family is willing to listen to those who go with him. To Junzhou, each gave fields and houses, and people relied on their benefits, and China and foreign countries were secured. Since it is between states and counties, there will never be a levy and a battle. ”
In the twenty-sixth year (A.D. 738), another edict was issued:
"Every time I think of Li Shu, it is not good for the conquest, so don't send to recruit, give him a generous reward with Shibian County, and let him live for a long time. Now the army is called, the number is sufficient, in the middle of the summer, the army can be dismissed. There is no military revolution, which is enough to protect the business of agriculture and mulberry. From now on, all the troops are healthy, and it is advisable to stop the dispatch, and they will see the town soldiers and all will be returned. ”
The edict clearly stated that "everything should be returned", which means that the system of government soldiers and garrisons has been abolished. Since the Changcong is used as a guard, and the Long March athletes are used to defend it, there is naturally no need to recruit government soldiers.
Therefore, in the eighth year of Tianbao (740 AD), Xuanzong ordered the suspension of the Yushu (that is, the military talisman of the government soldiers). Subsequently, the government soldiers had military officials, and the military weapons, pack horses, pots, and grains stipulated by the government military system were abolished.
However, at that time, those who were recruited as the guards of the Beijing division were all the children of scoundrels in the market, and the rich were dressed in colorful clothes and ate beam meat, and the strong ones were horned sacral, tug-of-war, warping wood, and carrying iron, and never trained, so they had the name of the six armies, but had no actual combat ability.
Later, An Lushan and Shi Enming took advantage of the emptiness of the central army to launch a rebellion, and most of the speakers blamed it on the destruction of the government military system. In fact, the military system of the embassy government continued to be maintained, and Tang Xuanzong also made it difficult to stop it and seek peace.
As far as the relationship between the government military system and the conscription system is concerned, the recruitment did not begin with Zhang Shuo, and in the early Tang Dynasty, the government soldiers were the backbone, and the recruitment of soldiers was also carried out.
Volume 16 of "Tang Law Shu Yi": "Recruiting people is not a guard, a temporary recruiter." ”
"The Old Yongshu - The Biography of Liu Ren" also said: "If you don't need official property, please do your own food and clothing, and invest in the name of the levy." ”
The status of the conscription is higher than that of the general conscription.
"Old Tang Dynasty Book: Career Palace Chronicles" said: "Those who recruit are not in the army, and they are not in the camp of recruiters." ”
Those who are recruited for the purpose of winning official honors and awards, but the honors and rewards of Gaozong are not good, so the number of recruits is decreasing. In the middle of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, Zhang said that the government military system was replaced by the conscription system, but it was just an institutionalization of recruitment.
Moreover, conscription is not the cause of the corruption of the government soldiers, but the result of the corruption of the government soldiers.
Now that the government soldier system has been destroyed, the task of the Su Wei Jing Division must be to replace the government soldiers with recruitment. At the beginning of the implementation of the conscription system, it did play a positive role in the military.
In the tenth year of Kaiyuan (722 AD), that is, at the same time as setting up the "Wei Cavalry", Zhang said that more than 200,000 border soldiers were returned to the peasants. These more than 200,000 border soldiers are mainly government soldiers from all parts of the Central Plains who have been away from their hometowns for a long time and are homesick.
Xuanzong was worried that the reduction of more than 200,000 border troops would weaken the strength of the border defense, and expressed doubts about Zhang's suggestion.
Zhang said:
"The minister has been in the field for a long time, and he knows the border affairs, but the generals want to defend themselves and invade the private business, if the enemy wins, they will not have more idle and redundant affairs, so as to interfere with agricultural affairs. If Your Majesty is suspicious, please close the door and hundreds of households as a guarantee. With His Majesty's wisdom, the four Yi are afraid of ambush, and they will not worry about reducing troops and recruiting Kou. ”
Zhang said that the purpose of this proposal is to lighten the peasants' burdens and at the same time to return a large number of laborers to the peasants, which is also beneficial to agricultural production.
On the other hand, Zhang said that he dared to ask for more than 200,000 troops with the guarantee of the life of the whole family, indicating that the defensive strength of the border town had been consolidated. And this is precisely the result of the gradual replacement of government soldiers by recruitment.
Therefore, when the prince of the Qing Dynasty commented on the history of the Tang Dynasty, he said:
Those who are engaged in the way of a gentleman and protect the country and the people by customizing the law should not be so reckless. ”
The old history said that the disadvantages of raising troops in the Tang Dynasty began with Zhang Shuo, and believed that the recruitment of troops was the cause of the feudal town's growth, and the judgment was unfair.
5. The background of the knots
Associated with the conscription system is the change in the setting of military commanders, that is, the establishment of jiedu envoys, which is also the result of changes in the military situation in border towns.
Under the original military system, the military governor did not have military power. Although the governor stationed in the border town has the command of the garrison within a (or state) (there are army, guard, city, town, etc.), the number is not large. Only in the event of a major war, when the central government sends a large army to the expedition, will the general commander of the march be the commander-in-chief.
The commander of the march was appointed by the central government temporarily, and not only commanded the army sent by the central government, but also had the right to dispatch the defenders under the governor of the province, so he was also the superior military chief of the governor. However, this was only a temporary setting for a certain war, and as soon as the war was over, the marching commander would return to the capital division and hand over the army and military power.
With the change of the war situation, the military strategic focus of the Tang army in the border area gradually changed from conquest to long-term defense, and the defenders under the jurisdiction of the original governor were too weak, so the conquest army led by the marching governor (generally more than tens of thousands) was always left in the border town and became a long-term garrison of the troops, and the marching commander became the highest military commander of the defenders of the province.
According to the original meaning, "the march is called the governor, and the way is called the governor", but at this time, the original meaning of the marching governor has changed. This kind of case of using the chief of the march as the highest military governor of the border town was very common from the reign of Zhongzong Shenlong to the early years of Xuanzong.
Moreover, this kind of marching chief (also known as the chief of the town army) is given a festival, and has the right to control all the troops within the control, and can engage in military law for his subordinates, so the word "holding the festival" is added to the title.
Since Gaozong Yonghui, the governor has brought the envoy to hold the festival, which is called the festival envoy, but he has not yet been a famous official. In the first year of Ruizong Jingyun (710 AD), Xue Ne, the ambassador of Youzhou Town, was the general of Zuo Wuwei and the governor of Youzhou. This is the beginning of the establishment of a famous ruler with a degree of moderation.
At the beginning of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, Xuanzong began to set up a large number of festivals. In the meantime, there were still those who appointed the chief of the march.
Until October of the ninth year of Kaiyuan (721 AD), Xuanzong edicted: "The general manager of the Shuofang march should allow the Dao to change to the Shuofang Jiedu envoy."
At this point, the Jiedu envoy completely replaced the marching chief and became the official name of the highest military governor of the border town.
6. The "double-edged sword" of "ten knots"
In the first year of Tianbao (742 AD), a total of ten knots were set up in the country to prepare for the border.
Its name, location, task, etc. are recorded separately:
Fan Yang Jiedu envoys: Tongjinglu, Weiwu, Qingyi, Jingsai, Hengyang, Beiping, Gaoyang, Tangxing, Henghai, Ninth Army, Tunyou, Ji, Fu, Tan, Yi, Heng, Ding, Mo, Cang Kyushu realm, governing Youzhou, commanding 91,400 troops. Its task is mainly to defend against the intrusion of Xi and Khitan.
Pinglu Jiedu envoy: unified Pinglu, Lulong Second Army, Yuguan Guard, Andong Duhufu, Tunying, Ping's two prefectures, governing Yingzhou, commanding 37,500 troops. Its task is mainly to pacify the chamber and the indigent.
Hedong Jiedu envoy: Tongtianbing, Datong, Hengye, Kelan four armies, Yunzhong guarding, Tuntaiyuan Mansion folding, Dai, Lan three realms, governing Taiyuan Mansion, commanding 55,000 troops. The main task of fighting with Shuofang was to defend against the Turks.
Shuofang Jiedu envoys: the three armies of Tongjinglu, Feng'an, Dingyuan, Sanshou Cheng, Anbei, Shan Yu Erdu Hufu, the realm of Tunling, Xia and Fengzhou, Zhiling Prefecture, commanding 64,700 troops. Its main task was to fend off the Turks.
Hexi Jiedu envoys: Tongchishui, Dadou, Jiankang, Ningkou, Yumen, Moli, Doulu, Xinquan Eighth Army, Zhangye, Jiaocheng, Baiting three guards and captures, Tunliang, Su, Gua, Sha, Hui five states of the border, Liangzhou, 73,000 troops. Its mission was to cut off the communication between Tibet and the Turks and to defend against their attacks.
Anxi Jiedu envoy: commanded the four towns of Qiuzi, Yanqi, Khotan, and Shule, commanded 24,000 troops, and its task was to pacify the Western Regions and resist the attack of Tibet.
Beiting Jiedu envoy: unified the three armies of Hanhai, Tianshan, and Yiwu, and commanded 20,000 troops in Tunyi and Xierzhou. Its task is to defend the Western Turkic tribes of the Turks, such as Fan, Jiankun, and Mosi.
Longyou Jiedu envoy: unified Lintao, Heyuan, Baishui, Anren, Zhenwei, Weirong, Momen, Ningsai, Jishi, Zhenxi Ten Army, Suihe, Hechuan, Pingyi three guards, Tunshan, Kuo, Taohe realm, Shanzhou, 75,000 troops. Its task was mainly to defend Tibet.
Jiannan Jiedu envoy: Tongtianbao, Pingrong, Kunming, Ningyuan, Chengchuan, Nanjiang six armies, Tunyi, Yi, Mao, Dang, Wang, Zhe, Song, Wei, Gong, Ya, Li, Yao, Xi thirteen states of the border, Zhiyi Prefecture, 30,900 troops. Its main task was to defend against the fraternal nationalities of Tibet in the west and Sichuan, Yunnan and other places in the south.
Lingnan Jiedu envoy: unified Jinglu, Qinghai Second Army, Gui, Rong, Yong, Jiao four management, governed Guangzhou, commanded 15,400 troops. Its mission is to appease the fraternal peoples of this region.
These ten knots, from the northeast to the west, and then a little south, just formed a line of defense against Xi, Khitan, Turkic, Tubo, Nanzhao, etc.
It can be seen that the establishment of the governor is also an all-round improvement of the border town defense area.
At the beginning, he was just a simple military governor, but he didn't ask about the local civil affairs, finances and other powers. However, due to the huge number of garrisons in the border towns, it was not easy to raise the materials needed for the war. In order to ensure the supply of the army and mobilize forces from all quarters to improve the army's defense and combat capability, Tang Xuanzong gradually made the envoy of Jiedu concurrently serve as the envoy of the camp and the envoy of the degree.
In this way, the envoy of the festival has the functions and powers of the inspector, the envoy of the store, or the envoy of the inspection. These envoys were no longer just local military governors, they controlled the administrative and financial power of the region, and made all the subordinates of the state governor, so they became the highest military and political governor of a region.
In a society based on the natural economy, once the power of the temperance envoys is expanded and the Tang central power is not properly handled, it is easy for the situation of warlordism to be divided.
This kind of lesson has happened in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and the festival degree makes it and interviews and disposes of it, which is a copy of the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The initial establishment of the history of the state is not unavoidable as an expedient measure, and the system itself is not necessarily equated with disaster.
Whether the tragedy of history will be repeated depends on whether Tang Xuanzong can control it and whether the centralized power can be consolidated.
(End of text)
If you have other topics or opinions about the field of history, you can [follow] me for a private chat, or you can leave a message in the comment area below and reply as soon as possible.