Chapter 226: Exhausting the Army
In 960 AD, Zhao Kuangyin launched the "Chenqiao Mutiny", forcing Emperor Gong of Later Zhou to abdicate and establishing the Song Dynasty.
At the beginning of its establishment, the Song Dynasty mostly inherited the system of the Later Zhou Dynasty. The central horse administration agencies were the Left and Right Feilongyuan, Taipu Temple and Jiabu.
These central agencies jointly exercise horse management authority, and their functions are constantly changing.
The academic community has mainly studied the evolution of the single central horse administration agency in the Song Dynasty, and has not yet conducted in-depth research on issues such as the evolution of the central horse administration agency and its functions in the Song Dynasty.
The changes in the functions of the central horse administration agency are closely related to the politics and military of the Song Dynasty. Through the study of the central horse administration agency, we can get a glimpse into the changes in the politics and military of the Song Dynasty.
Previously, the academic community did not regard Feilongyuan, Tianjiuyuan and Qijiyuan in the early Song Dynasty as central horse administration agencies. However, after collecting and organizing information and conducting research, the author believes that Feilongyuan, Tianjiuyuan and Qijiyuan actually played the functions of central horse administration agencies in the early Song Dynasty.
The Feilongyuan, Tianjiuyuan, and Qijiyuan, and their evolutionary functions. In the early Song Dynasty, the central equine administration consisted of the Left and Right Feilongyuan, overseen by the Left and Right Feilongshi. During the Tang Dynasty, many prefectures established pasture supervisors to care for horses, and the Five Dynasties period largely inherited this system. However, due to the weakening of central government, regional separatist factions, and frequent warfare, the early Song Dynasty saw the "many prefecture supervisors abandoned and their duties lost, leading to a decline in the breeding of the national horses."
In order to solve the problem of horse shortage, Emperor Taizu of Song "first set up two horse-raising offices, and renovated four old horse-raising offices to provide grazing areas", and "sent envoys to border states to buy horses every year."
The newly established horse breeding department was placed under the jurisdiction of the Left and Right Feilongyuan, which led to their initial development. Later, the Left and Right Jiaojunying were established to raise and guard the imperial horses, and the Left and Right Qimazhi were appointed to oversee the use of the imperial horses, further expanding the functions of the Feilongyuan.
The increase in the number of horses has promoted the development of horse breeding institutions and also promoted the reform of horse management agencies.
To accommodate the increased equine administration, the Song Dynasty government reorganized the Left and Right Feilongyuan, previously responsible for central equine affairs, into the Left and Right Tianjiuyuan. After ascending the throne, Emperor Taizong of Song planned a campaign against the Northern Han. However, he discovered a severe shortage of warhorses for his army. He dispatched troops to various locations to purchase horses from the public, declaring that anyone who concealed them would be put to death. This forced the purchase of horses from the public.
Through the efforts of the Song government, "173,579 horses were obtained." After Emperor Taizong of Song pacified the Northern Han, he "acquired over 42,000 horses from Fen, Jin, Yan, and Ji." Consequently, the Song Dynasty's horse population increased significantly. To house and manage this large number of horses, the Song government established "four new prisons outside Jingyang Gate" to house the additional horses.
The newly established four supervisors were called Tiansi Supervisors, divided into the Left and Right Tiansi Supervisors. The Left and Right Tiansi Supervisors each managed two supervisors, and the Left and Right Feilong Envoys were changed to the Left and Right Tianjiu Envoys to manage the Tiansi Supervisors.
In the second year of Emperor Taizong's Yongxi reign (985), the Left and Right Tianjiuyuan were changed to the Left and Right Qijiyuan. From then on, the institutions that managed the central horse affairs of the Song Dynasty changed from the Left and Right Tianjiuyuan to the Left and Right Qijiyuan. "The affairs of the national horses were all handled by the supervisors of the two Qijiyuans." After the failure of the Northern Expedition in the third year of Emperor Taizong's Yongxi reign, the strategic focus of the Song Dynasty government shifted from recovering the "Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun" to consolidating the regime and developing the economy, while the Khitan became more and more proactive in invading the land south of the Great Wall.
Buying horses from neighboring regimes was a very important way for the Song Dynasty to obtain war horses. However, "since the Huns became rampant, no horses have come south." After the Song Dynasty fell out with the Khitan, it was no longer possible to obtain a large number of horses from the Khitan.
Therefore, purchasing horses from the northwest and southwest became the main channel for purchasing horses in the Song Dynasty. In the first year of Xianping reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty, a horse estimation office was established to be responsible for estimating horse prices. It was mainly set up in western horse purchasing areas such as Sichuan and Shaanxi.
He Liang, who served as Tongpan (command of the Yongxing Army), also wrote in his "Book on Safe Borders": "Prepare to recruit armored cavalry and obtain sufficient supplies from the Western Regions." However, the rise of the Western Xia in the northwest interfered with the Song Dynasty's purchase of horses in the northwest. "If Lingwu is abandoned, and the Western Rong are allowed to unite again, and the Xia thieves are suppressed and subjugated to the Rong, then the Rong people west of Qin, Jing, Yi, and Wei will no longer be able to trade horses to the border counties. Then, where will China's war horses come from?"
In October of the second year of the Xianping reign, the Khitan invaded. To repel the Khitan attack, Emperor Zhenzong of Song personally visited the front lines in Hebei to supervise the battle and boost morale. Amidst the frequent fighting and dwindling supplies of war horses, the Song Dynasty established the Group Pastures Department in the third year of Emperor Zhenzong's Xianping reign (1000 shares) and appointed Chen Yaosou, a member of the Privy Council, as its governor.
"Thus, all matters concerning stables and pastures inside and outside the country, from the Qijiyuan on down, were all under the command of the Qunmusi." The Qunmusi became the central agency for managing the national horse affairs in the Song Dynasty. The highest management official was the Direct Academician of the Privy Council. This greatly improved the political and military status of horse affairs. This is enough to show that the Song Dynasty government attached more importance to the construction of horse affairs institutions during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong.
II. The Song Dynasty's Qunmusi and the Evolution of Its Functions
In the 15th year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty, the Shaoqing of Taipu Temple was appointed as the "Gou Dang Qunmu", but it was not set as an official title and was later abolished.
In the third year of Tang Linde's reign, Xianyu Zhengsu, the Junior Minister of the Imperial Household, was appointed as the Supervisor of the Longyou Group Pasture Supervisors, responsible for managing the Longyou Group Pasture Supervisors. This was probably the origin of the Group Pasture Supervisors.
However, the functional scope of the "Inspector of Longyou Pastoral Supervisor" was limited to the Longyou Pastoral Supervisors. In the Song Dynasty, all the functions of the original Qi Ji Yuan were transferred to the Pastoral Supervisory Department, and the Pastoral Supervisory Department became the horse administration agency for the entire country.
After the Song Dynasty government established the Qunmusi, its functions have been changing.
Overall, its functions were relatively stable before Wang Anshi's reforms, but were gradually weakened after the reforms began, until its function of managing the central horse affairs was abolished.
After the establishment of the Group Pastoral Affairs Bureau, a series of institutional settings and functional adjustments were carried out. It was recorded that in the third year of Emperor Zhenzong's Xianping reign, "it was ordered that there should be W prefects, military governors, and magistrates in various routes to take charge of the group pastoral affairs."
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