Abstract
During the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), mercenary soldiers made up a major portion of the military and their salaries became a heavy burden on the government. This phenomenon triggered debates about the military system among the ruling elite. While many Song bureaucrats urged their emperors to replace mercenary soldiers with peasant militia, arguments justifying the use of the mercenary soldier system were also prevalent. Supporters of the peasant militia system argued that recruiting peasants as soldiers was a model established by the ancient sage kings, and, thus, the Song government should use this method to solve its military problems. During the Shenzong period, Wang Anshi did, in fact, attempt to replace mercenary armies with peasant militias, but his policy aroused a great deal of protest. Wang’s opponents insisted that mercenary armies provided protection to commoners and allowed peasants to concentrate on agricultural work and enjoying their daily lives. Moreover, separation between peasants and soldiers was of use to the government in maintaining control over society. For these two reasons, Wang’s opponents argued, Taizu, the founder of the Song dynasty, had chosen a mercenary system and established this military model for his descendants to follow. The debate between those supporting and opposing mercenary armies constituted a major part of military discourse during the Song dynasty, and created a new military tradition for later rulers who adopted the mercenary system.
Keywords
Song dynasty, mercenary armies, Wang Anshi, Emperor Shenzong, militia, Chao Shuizhi
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