Chapter 20 second quarter

In the name of innovation, Wang Anshi is actually following the old path, which is called combining soldiers with the people and integrating the soldiers and the people.It was a unique product of China's long early feudal era (from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Northern and Southern Dynasties).In essence, it is to slowly transform the professionalization of imperial sergeants into amateurishness, which doomed Wang Anshi's military reform to fail. Did the vigorous Baojia method achieve the goal of strengthening the army expected by Wang Anshi and Zhao Xu?The answer is no.In the middle and late period of the empire, there were so-called millions of Baoding for a long time, but these "military forces" were never used in a military operation.In the fourth year of Yuanfeng, the empire conquered Xixia, and originally planned to recruit more than ten thousand Baoding from Kaifeng and Shaanxi to participate in this western expedition. The eunuch Wang Zhongzheng, one of the commanders of the Western Expedition, immediately submitted the memorial, saying that even if there is a shortage of soldiers, he cannot take the Baoding. To make up the number, let the court cancel this crazy idea.

Later, the Jin people invaded and quickly arrived at the capital of the empire. Unfortunately, the millions of militia organizations in the empire did not see any resistance to the Jin people's invasion. Wang Anshi's wishful thinking was wrong. The army really can't be amateurized. And what about the other effects of the Baojia Law?That's a lot, and the old parties of the empire have written it all down. The first is the basic measures for the implementation of the Baojia Law, such as Shangfan and Jiaoyue, which have become a heavy burden on the backs of Baoding.Just look at the documents above, no matter whether there is still food confiscated in your field, or whether the sows in the family pen are sick, you have to go to the county to participate in the training camp, escape privately, and the stick is sixty; The small stick can't be more than seventy.Farmers have an extra heavy duty, and officials at all levels such as Baozheng, Baochang, Dubaochang, and patrol inspectors have an extra power to deceive and exploit the people.

So there were extreme incidents of Baoding self-mutilation to avoid teaching and reading, and incidents of Baoding who could not bear to be exploited rebelled against the government in groups, and there were endless groups of Baoding in various places. Many of the Baozhengs who possessed a certain military strength became local tyrants (such as Chao Gai), committing crimes and crimes, but the local government was unable to punish and restrict them, so that later, the empire "thieves ran amok" , and protect the armor more", this is the consequence that the reformer Wang Anshi absolutely could not have imagined.

Of course, this is not the worst outcome, and the worst outcome is far from written on paper. From the beginning of the establishment of the empire by Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, the military tone he paved the way for the empire was to keep the inside and the outside. No matter how later generations criticize this strategy, it has certain practical significance. For a centralized feudal empire like the Northern Song Empire, the capital of the empire is the heart, the hub, and the soul. Ensuring the safety and normality of the capital is all the prerequisites for the normal operation of the empire, so Zhao Kuangyin put more than half of the empire's elite troops on In the Kaifeng area, we will do our best to protect the heart of the empire.

Although the Song Dynasty lost the barrier of the Youyun region from the beginning of the founding of the country, the empire was not afraid of the northern nomads encroaching on the border with a knife and a gun, and what was even more fearful was the surprise attack of the horse people on the heart of the empire. The military tone of keeping internal and external is undoubtedly effective in ensuring the security of the empire. At least during the Song Zhenzong period, when the Empress Dowager Xiao Chuo of the Liao Dynasty launched the long-distance raid that determined the fate of the two countries, the military defense of the empire was very important. It was so effective that the Khitan people didn't even see the shadow of Kaifeng City in the end.

However, the military reforms of Wang Anshi and Zhao Xu have changed the military structure of the empire to a large extent. On the one hand, the Imperial Army has been greatly reduced in order to save money, and on the other hand, the Baojia Law has been implemented to partially replace it. The original forbidden army and Xiang army. After some provincial troops were merged, the imperial army, which was originally stationed in dozens of miles of the capital and accounted for nearly half of the total army of the country, was greatly reduced after downsizing. In addition, from the beginning of the Shenzong Dynasty, the empire's main energy was used to deal with the Xixia people. Most of the elite troops were mobilized to the west.

When the Jin people invaded, the fortress of the empire was no longer strong. Wang Xiang, who was the head of the West Road at that time and once served as a member of the Tongzhi Privy Council, mentioned in his memorial that the empire was "created" since Wang Anshi's reform. Teach Baojia, but hide away and ban travel." During the Yuanfeng period, on the way to and from the capital, I saw "more than 30 miles of abandoned camps and ruined posts in the north of Yanjia, the capital."In the Huizong period, these abandoned "places of various classes" and "places of abandoned camps" were all turned into high-level leisure places such as halls, pools, and gardens by Gao Qi and Tong Guan, who were in charge of military and political power. entertainment venue.

And all of this is largely caused by Wang Anshi's Baojia Law.From this point of view alone, it is not without reason that the Song adherents in Nandu hated Wang Jiefu deeply and scolded him for nearly a hundred years.