Research On The Military Reward System Of Qin And Han Dynasties

From ancient times to the present,the rulers have used rewards as one of the means to control their subjects.And using force is the guarantee for the establishment and existence of a dynasty.Military reward system in combination with the two has a great impetus to improve the combat effectiveness of the army and stimulate the morale of the military.It is not only an important means of managing the military,but also closely linked with the political affairs at that time.However,most of the predecessors studied the Qin and Han military reward system from the perspective of military merit and military law,whose tscope of view is too narrow.The research in this paper can further enrich the inquiry.First of all,it is the background of the military reward system in Qin and Han dynasties.During the Spring and Autumn Period,the development of social economy and frequent wars between countries provided the necessary conditions for the emergence of the Qin and Han military reward system.In addition,countries abolished the Shiqingshilu system by means of reforms to reward military merits.In particular,the Shang Yang Reform Law explicitly advocated the reward of military merits,and establishesed the principle of rewarding the first magistrate,which further provided politics guarantee for the emergence of the military reward system.In addition,the “reward” thought of the legalists and the “religious” thought of the military also provided a solid theoretical foundation for the formation of the military reward system.Second,it is the contents of the military reward system in Qin and Han dynasties.It mainly includes the reward of identity as a peerage,a marquis,the promotion of positions and atonement;the financial reward of money and goods;the spiritual reward provide soldiers with name,surname,in-laws,the “final seat”,the weapon and other symbolic objects;the “welfare” reward of Laci and so on.Its beginning was roughly in the Qin Dynasty,which was dominated by rewarding of peerage.With the rewarding of peerage,the reward of this period was accompanied by not only land,slaves,but also the promotion of positions.In the Western Han Dynasty,with the corruption of the military merits system,the rewards of the rulers were mostly gold,Houshiyi,and promotion of position.In particular,the unearthing of the Yinwan Hanjian has made us understand the military promotion of grassroots officials in the face of riots and uprisings in a better way.In the Eastern Han Dynasty,the contents of the military rewards were even more diverse.In addition to inheriting the rewards of the Western Han Dynasty,they also included the reward of family members as LangGuan,the reward of medicine,in-laws,grains,gold and silk,soldiers and vehicles,and the order of seeing the emperor.Third,it is the condition and basis of obtaining the Qin and Han military rewards.This section mainly includes military service,performance,reward of death and injury,recruitment rewards and other standards.Among them,the assessment criteria for military service include beheading,siege,flag drum and other command,signaling apparatus,breaking enemies,recruiting exhortation,assassinating the head of the enemy,arresting spies,and stealing a total of eight aspects.The conditions for receiving a military reward usually include the performance of the standards in the military assessment and the excellent performance in the daily work.In addition,there are also the rewards of saving the lord in the war,cutting off the enemy's head and body,and the rewards of on schedule time and no plundering,as well as correctly divining the military results.From this we can see that the conditions for obtaining the Qin and Han military rewards are constantly changing with the specific situations.The single dagger standard in Shang Yang's reform gradually evolved into a later dagger and was inherited by the the Former and Later Han Dynasties;They formulated the usual military reward standard,which was an extra gift,which further improved the content of the Qin and Han military reward system.In short,the military standards of the Former and Later Han Dynasties are more refined,mature,and more targeted.Some of the contents even express the simple humanistic care spirit of the Qin and Han governments.Finally,it is concerned about problems in the Qin and Han military reward system.This is mainly manifested in the fact that the sergeant and the eunuch have the power to undermine the fairness of the army's rewards,because of the adverse events of contending for merit,and the plundering as a disguised reward,the rewards are not timely,and the merits are not rewarded.These problems not only existed in the Qin and Han Dynasties,but also were common problems in the Chinese dynasties.This is mainly because the military reward system and the autocratic imperial power are mutually influenced.On the one hand,mastering the power of punishment and rewards is a great privilege of monarchy.The rulers have won people's support through military rewards,but at the same time they have also cultivated a group of “contributors” that confronted the imperial power.On the other hand,the military reward system was also restricted by the imperial power.When the imperial power is strengthened,the military rewards can often be implemented smoothly.When the imperial power declines or is decentralized by other forces such as eunuchs and foreigners,the fairness of military rewards is severely damaged.