The Garrison Reclamation System And Influence Of Qidan Dynasty

The garrison reclamation system in the Liao Dynasty could be dated back to the reign of Yelü Abaoji(Emperor Taizu of the Liao).On the eve of the founding of the Liao Dynasty,Emperor Liao Taizu led the Han people plundered in wars to reclaim wasteland by means of stationing garrisons,and that became the earliest garrison reclamation in the Liao Dynasty.“Fan Han Zhuan Hu”(the conversion of Han nationality and other foreign tribes into civilians)recorded in historical books just refer to those reclamation families that were responsible for garrison reclamation.Under the jurisdiction of the Military Commission,they needed to undertake some military services.It was with these huge manpower and material resources gathered by garrison reclamation that Liao Taizu overcame Qidan aristocrats who were against him,thus opening up the prelude to assembling families into a country.Since the middle period of the Liao Dynasty,with its development of productivity,the “Fan Han Zhuan Hu” with a dense characteristic of serfdom had begun to dwindle,so historical records showed that many military families of the Military Commission were expatriated as civilians.After Liao Taizong engulfed sixteen states of Youyun,Ying Tian system(plots of agricultural land run by authorities)was introduced into Qidan.Since then,the system of “Fan Han Zhuan Hu” and “Ying Tian” had been coexisting in the Liao Dynasty.The appearance of this phenomenon was resulted from mutual “acculturation” between prairie civilization and central plains agricultural civilization.These two systems of garrison reclamation had been existing until the Liao Dynasty perished.The emergence of military reclamation was resulted from the fact that traditional supply modes of nomads could not adapt to long-term garrisoning in fixed areas.Military reclamation emerged in the period of Liao Taizong and became a main supply means for armies in the middle of the Liao Dynasty.The conversion of the supply means in the Liao Dynasty was a historical progress,but it also weakened the mobility of Qidan armies,thus sowing the seed of military failures in the late Liao Dynasty.