Research On Some Aspects Of The Xian Forces In Sung Dynasty

The Xiang Forces was originally used to advertise for " the Fanzhen's Forces " good at fighting for the WuDai Times. In early North Sung, Zhao Kong-yin took the measures of "adopting the Xiang Forces's crack soldiers" to enlarge the Jin Forces for strengthening centralization. In the meantime, he carried out the policy of "maintaining an forces", reserved the old organization structure of the Xiang Forces's, and finally made the north Sung's regular forces form the special "the Xiang Forces - the Jin Forces " dualistic organizing structure. In the process, the Xiang Forces changed from the Fanzhen's soldiers of the WuDai Times to the country's regular soldiers, from power to feebleness, from only the fighting soldiers to a functionally complicated forces with different aims of services, and then it became the tool that served for the social, political and economic systems of Sung Dynasty.The Xiang Forces in Sung Dynasty, especially in North Sung, was not neglected a military force, which not only was the important foundation of forming the Jin Forces in early Sung, also was hereafter the important manpower resources of enlarging the Jin Forces, and at the same time, was the important carrier of absorbing unqualified soldiers from the Jin Forces. In North Sung, the Xiang Forces and the Jin Forces were indiscerptible to and mutually depending on each other. The existence of the Xiang Forces provided a beneficial condition for constructing the Jin Forces in the system of conscription. In addition to " the professional soldiers of serving",the Xiang soldiers, as " the soldiers to protect all the regional states", generally all had the military working functions, assuming the corresponding defending and the guarding tasks. Before Middle North Sung, the Xiang Forces also carried out the system of guarding in turn, which was more widespread in the southeastern regions where it complemented the shortage of the Jin Forces. Before Yuan Feng Period, the Xiang Forces was one of the basic military forces in the Xunjian system, exerting the function of keeping the local orders. The Xiang Forces's military function of defense outside and suppression inside was differently embodied in some specific examples of battles. The Xiang Forces was usually used as various laborers because of its neglecting training. As a whole, the exertion of its military function in South Sung was not only inferior to that in North Sung but also inferior to the Jin Forces in North Sung and also not equal to that of the station troops in South Sung.The Xiang Forces was one of special forces in ancient China, which lay in that most soldiers of these troops were widely served to do various jobs, for example, the professional soldiers among them, such as Zhuangcheng, Dipu, Heqing, Hanjiang, Kaijiang, etc. worked in construction of defence of towns, the rivers of defence and control, information transfer and material transportation, the official handicraft industry, they exerted the important functions in the related realms, though the jobs in these realms being mainly completed to depend on confiscating the gratis laborers before Sung. In Sung Dynasty, the Xiang Forces engaging in various jobs was not only a courtly decided policy, but also pursued by officials of all ranks. For example, the officials who were only asked to complete a mission such as managing the river, fixing the town etc. which would use tremendous laborers, were always praised, and their plans of claiming to use the Xiang Forces were usually permitted and got support. Instead, those plans of employing the common people to work would sometimes be denied and be attacked. The existence of the Xiang Forces did reduce the calling up of the peasantry. It was advantageous to lighten the peasants'burden, to abate the social conflicts and to raise the social production.As far as the Xiang Forces in Sung Dynasty was concerned, there were a great many criminals together with the bankrupted and unemployed social colonies. The Laocheng forces in the Xiang Forces were basically formed of the Pei soldiers. From the point of service, the Xiang Forces system was compulsive and exploiting. The rulers in Sung Dynasty impelled the bankrupted and unemployed social colonies and the criminals to engage in various hard labors by controlling them in the form of forces in order to enhance society management. In fact, it was an exploiting form, concealed by another, and compared with directly driving peasants to engage in hard labors, it was just one that was closely covered. Therefore, the system of the Xiang forces was fraudulent to some extent, for it concealed the essence that the feudal nation enslaved and exploited people. Although the Xiang Forces had stated salary, subsidy and largess, it was usually exploited by the officials of all ranks. The diseases and deaths were also unavoidable in urgent and dangerous services.The system of the Xiang forces, in Sung Dynasty, was the result of the particularly political and economic conditions. The organization form of the Xiang Forces was a measure of the rulers in early Sung to stabilize the old soldiers in Fanzhen areas and to abate the social conflicts. The thought of conscripting soldiers and putting an end to the robbers of the rulers provided the thinking condition to exist for the system of the Xiang Forces. From middle Tang to Sung Dynasty, the widespread development of the system of owning land privately, the tenancy, the employing and recruiting relations, and the farmers'and handicraftsmen weakly clinging to the country, were the social and economic sources for the Xiang forces to exist. The complicated and interactional factors made the organization form like the Xiang Forces existed over a long period in Sung Dynasty. The Xiang Forces system was really not a perfect system if just looking into its military system. However, it was remarkable that the rulers in Sung Dynasty not only combined the forces's organizing form with the feudal producing methods (directly representing as the governmentally managing industry) on a large scale for the first time for a long time in history but combined it with the social public businesslike management, which strengthened the basic function of the feudal government and its results were obvious. This reflected on the government, which changed the form of carrying out its functions in the time of Tang Dynasty turning to Sung Dynasty.After the Sung Dynasty, the Xiang Forces system did not exist as a whole, but the arms of services similar to the Xiang Forces's still existed over a long period in name of different titles in later Chinese feudal society, though they were not as good, on the scale and in their functional scope, as those in Sung Dynasty. To make a comprehensive view of the troops at all times and all over the world, it presented that they all developed from the single military function to that the main military function simultaneously existed together with more functions, and that accordingly appeared various professional soldiers, especially after the Neoteric Age. This kind of change was completely embodied as early as the system of the Xiang Forces in Sung Dynasty. Though we couldn't judge that the variety came from the Xing Forces system in Sung Dynasty, at least researching earnestly on the Xiang Forces system still has great importance for the contemporary military systems and troops construction today...