Thieves, forced to serve in the army, the old and sick, why the Song dynasty army is called "thieves with the army"?

If Di Qing, Yue Fei generation, cover dozens of centuries and a, there are very few look at each other, there is no successor, then it for the survival of the security department? The end of the North and South Song Dynasty, the famous generals are only a few. In addition to Yue Fei in the Southern Song Dynasty, there are Han Shizhong can be compared. And the mention of the Northern Song Dynasty, most people first thought of only Di Qing.

There are also many people who believe that Di Qing is the only general in the Northern Song Dynasty who can hold his own. He spent his life defending his family and country, attacking Western Xia in the north and breaking Nong Zhigao in the south. But in the end, he died a depressed death because of the distrust of the emperor and the courtiers. In fact, in addition to the distrust, there is another important reason is that he was for ? thieves with the army?

(1), to wear the crime, filled with military

Gao Tai Lieutenant drank: ? You this thief with the army, and see the face of the generals, forgive you today's crime. In the novel "Water Margin",? The thief with the army? This name appears repeatedly. With the army, as the name suggests, is sent to the army. Thief, naturally, is the meaning of demeaning. That is, whenever someone makes a mistake, they will be sent to the army.

Di Qing was enrolled in the military camp at the age of sixteen because of his elder brother's fights, and later rose to the top. It caused dissatisfaction among many ministers in the court, and coupled with the old tradition of emphasizing the civilization and suppressing the military, Di Qing's later years were very miserable.

1. If you are not accepted as a soldier, you are afraid of becoming a thief

"History of Song? The military record"? Or recruiting people on the regiment where the establishment, or take the children of the camp, listen to the army, or recruiting hungry people to fill the city, or to the guilty with subordinate to the service, to take, although not a way, and Mr. and Mrs. Jianzhi moved to the forbidden guards, short and weak for the compartment army? Song dynasty's military strength is weak, known to all, in fact, in addition to this? and the scholars **** rule the world? the national policy, there is a very important reason is the source of soldiers.

Song dynasty's military camp, can be said to include the three religions and nine streams of all kinds of heroes.

Some of these people were recruited because their fathers and brothers were in the barracks, while others were recruited as disaster victims. Others, who made mistakes, were sent to the army, which is what this article refers to as the thieves' army. The highest status among them was the forbidden army. They are all regular soldiers, while the other types of soldiers can be considered cannon fodder.

In the Song Dynasty, the barracks were like a big shelter, where people came from all walks of life. Many of them were old, weak, sick and disabled, and some of them were widows and widowers, and their fighting ability could be imagined. The reason why the prisoners or the old people are sheltered is because the imperial court is afraid that they will cause trouble in the society.

2. To prevent theft, there is no better way than to recruit people as soldiers

Whenever there is a natural disaster, there will be a large number of victims. In ancient times, the rescue conditions could not be reached, at this time people in order to the most basic conditions of survival will go to steal. As a precautionary measure, they were all brought into the military camp. And those who are usually idle, but also like to be brave and ruthless people, naturally, will also be absorbed.

Like Di Qing, this is the case. He was in his prime, and if they were all put in prison, first of all, the problem of food and clothing would have to be solved. Secondly, the social security in ancient times was chaotic, and a lot of prisons would need to be built. Because of this, they broke the mold and came up with the decision to let people who commit crimes, enter the military camp, build a war merit, in order to exempt the penalty.

Happy to stab Wen both cheeks, that can be worthy of in Jiangzhou? The body hair skin, received by the parents, they will be tattooed on the face after being convicted just like Song Jiang in the novel. In fact, this was a great punishment in ancient times. First of all, this is killing and maiming the body, unfilial to parents; secondly, after being released from prison, people will see the tattoo on the face and think that it is an outlaw with preconceived ideas.

(2), the penalty for the military, a two-in-one

Allocation of the army, in fact, to put it bluntly, is the reformed laborers to fill the army. This is not unique to the Song Dynasty, as early as the Han Dynasty has already appeared. In ancient times, there was a saying? Good men don't become soldiers, good stickers don't hit the nail?

"Water Margin" is a novel written by the Ming Dynasty, and there were indeed many such phenomena at that time. It is generally referred to in the official history as the allotment of troops, and rarely is a thief added.

1. contemptuous name to show insult

No matter whether the matching army or the thieves matching army, are just a name. The Song Dynasty's emphasis on the written word over the military led many literati to look down on military generals. Coupled with the emperor's own distrust, it was hard to get people to throw their heads and spill their blood to serve the frontier. The men of crime, on the other hand, were different. They themselves had lost the power to be good subjects of the Great Song, and naturally left life and death in the hands of the state.

In this way, these criminals could be put to good use. First of all, they would have had to serve hard labor, and would certainly have worked hard to sell their lives on the battlefield in order to reduce their sentences. Secondly, most of them were unruly and cunning, and some of them were physically fit. Therefore, it can improve the fighting strength of the army.

But the problem will also arise, because everyone is used to being free and loose on weekdays, it is very difficult to catch on the army discipline. And the people in this are from all walks of life. They are also all very well-behaved, or else they could not commit crimes on the spur of the moment and be captured and enlisted in the army. If an army does not have iron discipline, it will be very difficult to achieve victory on the battlefield.

The reason for the Song Dynasty's repeated failures in foreign wars is ultimately the result of the interaction between the problem of soldiering and the belittling of military generals. Therefore, during the Northern Song Dynasty, it was difficult to come up with famous generals. Even if there is, it is difficult to escape the brutal political struggle. Those who are in the courtroom of the sword of the scholarly men, will not tolerate the military generals in high positions, will be clamped down in the name of a variety of things.

2. Low status, slavery

Born Dixiong, auxiliary saint to push loyal. He was born Dixiong, a man of honor and loyalty, a man of love, and a man of ambition, a man of evil. It was only by virtue of his skillful marksmanship that Di Qing was able to achieve such a high level of success. Many people with mediocre qualifications have a very low status in the military camp. From a ? thief? word, one can see that the world is so contemptuous of them.

According to the record in the Collected Works of Wu Wensu Gong, the allotment of soldiers was mainly among the compartmentalized armies, but of course there were also in the forbidden army. Most of them served the regular army by carrying horses and chasing stirrups, and they were the first ones to fight on the battlefield. Most of the allotment army are lesser offenders, the state is worried about catching strong soldiers, let them to replenish the source of soldiers just two birds with one stone.

Converting those who jeopardize the peace and order of society into a tool to maintain their rule. The soldiers were like slaves, and if they were at odds with their masters, they would be punished according to the crime of master-servant discord. If a battalion or a pawn committed a crime, the crime would be aggravated. For the court of the Great Song Dynasty, to fill the army with labor prisoners can be said to be a hundred advantages without any harm.

It's just that there will always be one problem or another in terms of combat effectiveness and management. Besides, this phenomenon is not unique to the Song Dynasty. Like the Tang Dynasty, they would also carve words on the faces of prisoners and then send them to the army. In fact, carving is also a kind of mark. If someone escaped from the battlefield, it was also convenient for the court to continue to look for them.

In the feudal period, there were no human rights to speak of. What's more, those who broke the state's criminal law would naturally be punished.

(3), degradation of status, loss of honor

Two of the teenagers were the most unpleasant, and the crowd, and the mouth to scold, to the cloud:? Many people have a lot of misunderstandings, that all the army called thieves with the army will make them lose the sense of honor to do the military. In fact, this is not the case, because they themselves are not normally recruited, but only converted from labor service to military service. The thief here, in addition to the broader meaning of thieves, has another layer of meaning that is ? Bad?

1. The crime is on the top, deliberately suppressed

The meaning of allotment of soldiers is that the soldiers who were sent to the garrison because of the exile sentence. This could be considered a form of guilt by association, but most of them were very weak in combat. The Song Dynasty was every bit as intentional about suppressing the development of the military, and even if there were good soldiers but no good generals, they could not improve their fighting ability.

In short, the thieves with the army is a contemptuous name. Let those who have committed crimes and exiled, at all times to pay attention to their own identity. At the same time, it also serves as a wake-up call to the forbidden army. Because the same is a soldier, and forbidden army's status is much higher, but also to let them at any time to experience the sense of crisis.

Since the Yongjia Rebellion, the end of successive dynasties has been dominated by usurpers of their own military generals. What's more, Zhao Kuangyin was a military general usurper. Therefore, after the establishment of Zhao Song, it has been defending the army. Side by side, the Song's army policy was not at all to defend against foreign invasion, but to restrict their development at every turn.

The literati of the Song dynasty completely turned the army into a shelter. The upper echelons could not afford to take care of the old, the sick, the disabled or those who had suffered from natural disasters, so they whimsically shoved them all into military camps. At the same time, those who were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment were all enlisted as soldiers. These people will not pursue the honor of the military, just as a day monk, a day bell.

2. Class solidification, overall contempt

Qing's discussion of Zhigao also, the courtiers said Qing martial arts people, not enough to be alone, it is appropriate to use the heavy ministers to unify? Thieves with military origin Di Qing, in fact, is a good example. In the early years for the foundation of the Song dynasty, in the northern border and the Western Xia people fierce battle. And then he was denied his years of meritorious service by a paper Qingli peace treaty.

Guangxi Nong Zhigao began to rebel again, but the Song dynasty had no good generals available. This still happened during the reign of Emperor Renzong, who was also known as a benevolent ruler. If there was anyone in the kingdom who was capable of fighting the rebellion, it would not have been Di Qing's turn. Even if the rebellion was quelled, people still very much distrusted him.

With all the resistance, Di Qing was victorious. Subsequently, it is to increase the rank and title, his ability and merit can fully assume its Privy Councilor. But because he was ? Thieves with the army? , making the court up and down an uproar. Those officials who entered the civil service by virtue of the scientific examination, began to write a letter of embarrassment, and finally a generation of famous generals died of depression.

In fact, these are not looking down on Di Qing, but looking down on his identity. A thief with the army can be feudal lords and worship ministers, is not the biggest disrespect to these students who study hard? This kind of idea, now seems to be ridiculous, but it is the true reflection of the admonition ministers.

Conclusion:

The destiny of the thieves' army is mostly very miserable, some of them will act as pawns and some will become compartmentalized army. That is to say, labor soldiers in the battlefield to build trenches or build water conservancy. Because of previous mistakes, even if there is a great merit can not be erased. From the point of view of the allotment itself is not a problem, the fault is that the Song Dynasty is too much emphasis on culture and military, which led to the Jingkang Rebellion and the Yashan sea battle.

References:

Water Margin

The History of Song Dynasty