Chapter 368: The Paradox of Strengthening the Army

After a busy day, Shi Bufan returned home and found that Dugu Daxue's gaze at him was a little unfriendly. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Shi Bufan speculated that most of the time he said this morning that Hu Ren was not credible, which made Dugu Daxue be stimulated to sensitive nerves. However, in fact, it was not only Dugu Daxue who was stimulated to the sensitive nerves, but also the entire Guanlong Group of Datang was also aroused to the sensitive nerves.

The Tang Dynasty used Hu people as soldiers, and this kind of thinking is actually a kind of historical thinking inertia during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. As early as the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there was a tradition that the Han people were engaged in agriculture and the Hu people served as soldiers, without interfering with each other. Back then, Gao Huan was really a duplicitous guy, and he said that the Han people gave food to feed you Hu people, isn't it good?

But he explained to the Han people that you had hired a group of powerful nurses for a small fee, wouldn't it be great? This guy explained this duplicity, and both sides accepted it, and this guy was very good at dealing with the contradictions between the Hu and the Han people.

However, after all, there were still many remnants of the Hu people in the government military system back then, and in the Tang Dynasty, there were many people with Hu blood in the Guanlong Group, or the ancestors were simply Hu people. Shi Bufan said that Hu Ren can't be trusted, so they are very tired in their hearts. Even they do not reject the use of Hu people as soldiers, this has historical and cultural origins.

But can Shi Bufan agree? The lessons of the past and the Anshi Rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty are all lessons from the past. If a country pins its military on foreign nations and on non-Juche nations, then this is completely walking a tightrope. With the rise of famous Hu generals one by one, this is definitely not reassuring, but shows the loss of the martial spirit of the Han people.

"Daxue, are you still angry?" Shi Bufan asked.

"Husband, do you still think I am a Hu person?" Dugu Daxue asked.

Shi Bufan replied: "No, you have already integrated." Because you have already done it according to the way of life of the Han people, naturally you will not be Hu people. ”

"But you ......" Dugu Daxue still wanted to say, but was stopped by Shi Bufan.

"Heavy snow, that's not what I said. You should understand that the Hu people I am talking about are groups that proceed according to their own way of life. I have not denied that you are Han Chinese, because you have already lived on the basis of farming, not nomadism. If you already have this foundation, you can't be considered a nomadic Hu person. Shi Bufan explained.

To see whether you are Han Chinese, you can't just look at the language, the most important foundation core is the way of life, especially the way of life based on farming, which is the foundation. Of course, some nobles do not farm themselves, but they rely on farming to provide for their support, and their production thinking is also biased towards supporting farming, so in fact, it is also an agricultural thinking, and they cannot be regarded as Hu people.

Dugu Daxue is relieved, if Shi Bufan thinks she is a Hu person, then this is trouble.

"Husband, in fact, today I see that the reason why the emperor agreed to ban the Hu people from joining the army is not just the factor you said. In fact, I think the emperor is worried that the army is too strong. So he was also worried, because the Hu cavalry was stronger, and the cavalry was the most powerful combat power of the army, so the emperor was actually worried. Dugu Daxue said.

Dugu Daxue served in the court, and his thinking and guessing of the emperor were more thorough. Li Shimin is probably not only worried about the insecurity of the armed forces being controlled by non-Juche nationalities, but most of Li Shimin's thinking is not for national security considerations, in fact, he is more concerned about the Li family. Because in Li Shimin's eyes, he is actually like the rich man, when a rich man recruits security guards, will he choose limited people of his own nationality or foreigners?

Shi Bufan doesn't dare to say absolutely, but the vast majority of rich people generally choose natives, but they will not trust foreigners. Of course, this is just like what Shi Bufan said, even if foreigners don't really have the idea of robbing you, but are you really down-to-earth? Is it really reassuring to entrust your net worth and life to those who have a very different lifestyle from your own?

In fact, this does not mean that people of your own nationality will not rob you, but it can make you feel at ease. And even if the people of their own nationality want to rob, they have more concerns, unlike foreigners who leave directly after robbing them, who knows where they went. Therefore, since there is a risk of looting, and they are mentally more assured of their natives, the vast majority of rich people would rather choose their natives.

Li Shimin is not thinking about his own nation, but for the sake of the Li family. This point is extraordinary, it is certain that no matter how enlightened Li Shimin is, it is also based on the fact that he is a feudal emperor, and his love for his family is far greater than his patriotism. Shi Bufan will not deliberately deify Li Shimin, but he will not deliberately belittle, just point out his essence as a feudal emperor.

"This is actually a strong army paradox, if you want to ensure national security, you must have a strong army. But if an army is too strong, it is also very dangerous. This is actually a very important paradox, and such a paradox may not be completely solved for more than a thousand years. Shi Bufan said.

"The Strongman Paradox?" Dugu Daxue felt that this word had some meaning.

"That's right, about the paradox of the army's strength, this has always been in the swing. This is almost insolvable, and it will not be completely solved for at least the next 1,300 years! Shi Bufan replied.

"Thirteen hundred years? Why do husbands and gentlemen love to say 1,300 years? So there are bits and pieces? Dugu Daxue asked.

"Hehe, don't worry about it so much, let's get down to business! Hey, the paradox of the strong army can't be solved!" Shi Bufan also sighed.

Not only China, but also the rest of the world are often troubled by this paradox of strong militaries. It stands to reason that in order to ensure national security, it is necessary to have a strong army to protect it. However, if a strong army is strong, it is also easy to cause internal warlord turmoil.

As for the military power and military system, this country has been discussing it, but it has never been able to completely solve it. This paradox of strengthening the army is still reflected in the oscillation between the compulsory military system and the conscription system. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the government military system was implemented, with the characteristics of certain compulsory soldiers. The imperial court gave land, and the army was integrated with soldiers and peasants, which not only saved military expenses, but also maintained the loyalty of soldiers.

The soldiers of the government military system are relatively loyal, they are relatively loyal to the imperial court, and it is not easy to produce warlords. Because their land is here, they can inherit it to future generations after they die. However, if you rebel or rebel, not only will you die, but your descendants will not be able to obtain land. The land was given by the imperial court, and they were more loyal to the center.

As for some people who write novels about the Three Kingdoms, they pat their heads and think that the generals are loyal to the lord and the soldiers are loyal to the generals. The soldiers of the Three Kingdoms period belonged to the kind of people who "did not have permanent production". These guys feed the whole family without starving, have no land and no permanent property, and take all their wealth with them, even if they betray the supreme lord, they don't have to pay any price. So it is very easy for them to betray, but they can continue to survive after surrendering, and it is very easy to betray naturally.

And in the early days of the Tang Dynasty, in several rebellions, many times subordinates beheaded the rebel leaders and directly surrendered to the central government? Because those soldiers are not stupid, they know that once they rebel, not only will the success rate be low, but even the land will be gone, and they will die in vain, and their descendants will not be able to inherit it.

Therefore, those generals of the Three Kingdoms are loyal to the lord, and the soldiers are loyal to the generals, which is completely thought up by patting their heads. The soldiers of the Three Kingdoms, loyal to "themselves", are not loyal to anyone.

"The military system of integrating soldiers and peasants can save military spending for the country and make soldiers more loyal to the imperial court. However, the combat effectiveness of soldiers decays very quickly, and it doesn't even take a generation for the army to begin to decay. This is also destined by the result of the integration of soldiers and peasants, once the army participates in production, the decay is very rapid. Shi Bufan said.

"The army participates in production and saves military spending for the imperial court. However, once involved in production, there is not much training in mind. Especially now that the world is peaceful, there is no crisis, and production has become the mainstream. Especially in the military system of the imperial court, the soldiers had to bear their own food and grass for training and combat, and even had to buy war horses and ordnance to fight for the imperial court. If there is a war, it will be fine, but once there is a long period of peace, then I am afraid that they are not willing to put their food and ordnance into the bottomless pit of training. Military training not only does not gain wealth for them, but it has to be reversed, and even if there is no danger from the outside, they are slack. Even after the generals of the local folding charms found out, they turned a blind eye to the fact that it was profitable, and some of them might even join in personally 'renting' these soldiers instead of training. This is not impossible, as you said, husband, it is very possible! Dugu Daxue replied.

Of course, Dugu Daxue knew that Shi Bufan's speculation was true, the Jedi was true, and Dugu Daxue's ancestor was Dugu Xin, one of the founders of the government military system. The dead end of the government military system lies in the fact that he let the army participate in production, on the surface, it is to save military spending, but once it is peaceful for a long time, it will not even be too long, ten or twenty years, a generation has passed, and the government soldiers will begin to seriously decay.

Human beings are selfish, using the wealth they produce to work for the country, the ancients did not have a noble sentiment in their real name! Therefore, let them sacrifice their wealth for military training, this is a loss of money. There are people who do the business of killing heads, but no one does the business of losing money! Once the world is peaceful, this kind of military system that integrates soldiers and peasants, and produces and trains at the same time, will decay very quickly, and in less than 50 years, less than a person's life, it will definitely decay to the point of complete decay.

"Everyone advocates production and construction, but if you look at the fate of those production and construction corps in those years, you can know the consequences of the army's participation in production." Shi Bufan thought.

In the 21st century, where are the production and construction corps in those places today? Even the last production and construction corps, although it was called the "Corps," was no longer an army establishment and belonged to a local organization, and even hung up a "listed company" sign, which had long since had no direct contact with the army.

The army's participation in production is not a good way to preserve combat effectiveness, but on the contrary, it is accelerating the decay of the army's combat effectiveness.

"The government military system represents the side of the paradox of a strong army that prevents a strong army from affecting national security, so it is a system that is biased towards internal defense. This system of integrating soldiers and peasants is decaying so quickly that I can even predict that after the emperor, it will decay immediately. Although the army of the government system is more loyal to the emperor, it is not without a price, this is a very huge price, and the combat effectiveness decays very quickly. Maybe it will not be prominent when the current emperor is on the throne, but when the next emperor is in power, I am afraid that he will face the result of 'a big country without soldiers'. At that time, it was also possible to rely on foreigners, and even gradually transition to conscription. ”

During the period of Tang Gaozong, the conscription system had already begun to be implemented, and the earliest conscription system actually originated from a person who was a "Long March athlete". This long march is not the long march as later generations understand it, but the meaning of "long-term conquest". The state paid to hire a group of people to fight for a long time, and these people were the first batch of personnel of the Tang Dynasty recruitment system.

Another group of people patted their heads and believed that the Tang Dynasty's expansion of territory was so large, which was the advantage of the government military system. However, he did not notice at all that when the combat effectiveness of the Tang army reached its peak, it was not the Zhenguan period in the early Tang Dynasty when the government military system was implemented, but in the middle of the Tang Dynasty when the conscription system was implemented. Isn't it funny to praise the government military system with the results of the conscription system?

Under the conscription system, the only duty of the army is training, so almost the army trains every day, and it is inevitable that the combat effectiveness is stronger than that of the government military system.

"But when the Tang Dynasty had already reached its peak in the recruitment system, the paradox of strengthening the army appeared again." Shi Bufan sighed and said.

Tang Gaozong Wu Zetian even reached the Kaiyuan period, facing more and more challenges, when they found that the big country had no soldiers, they had to adopt a conscription system, from the Han to the Hu people, all recruited in. The strong army of the conscription system brought the Tang Dynasty to glory, but it also left a great hidden danger for the later division of the Tang Dynasty's feudal towns. In the early days of the Tang Dynasty, in order to prevent the instability of the internal army, the government soldiers were used to create a corrupt army. Later, in order to deal with foreign tribes, they had to use the conscription system to form a strong army, but it also caused the hidden danger of internal warlords.

"There is no solution to this problem! The paradox of a strong army, there is no solution! Shi Bufan smiled bitterly.

This paradox of strengthening the army has plagued countless people, both ancient and modern, both at home and abroad, and this problem is not only in China, but also in the whole world. The army is weak and invaded by foreign countries, and if the army is too strong, it will also be afraid of being counterattacked, and this problem is really unsolvable. Even if it takes more than 1,000 years, there is no way to effectively solve it, and all countries in the world, including it, are suffering from headaches.

(To be continued.) )