1
鄉兵一
Local Militia, Part 1
2
鄉兵者，選自戶籍，或土民應募，在所團結訓練，以爲防守之兵也。 周廣順中，點秦州稅戶充保毅軍，宋因之。 自建隆四年，分命使臣往關西道，令調發鄉兵赴慶州。 咸平四年，令陝西系稅人戶家出一丁，號曰保毅，官給糧賜，使之分番戍守。 五年，陝西緣邊丁壯充保毅者至六萬八千七百七十五人。 七月，以募兵離去鄉土，有傷和氣，詔諸州點充強壯戶者，稅賦止令本州輸納，有司不得支移之。 先是，河北忠烈、宣勇無人承替者，雖老疾不得停籍。 至是，詔自今委無家業代替者，放令自便。 自是以至天禧間，並、代廣銳老病之兵，雖非親屬而願代者聽。 河北強壯，恐奪其農時，則以十月至正月旬休日召集而教閱之。 忠烈、宣勇、廣銳之歸農而闕員者，並自京差補； 戍於河上而歲月久遠者，則特爲遷補； 貧獨而無力召替者，則令逐處保明放停。
Local militia were drawn from household registers or recruited among local inhabitants, then organized and drilled in their districts to serve as defensive forces. During the Later Zhou reign era Guangshun, tax-registered households in Qin Prefecture were drafted into the Baoyi corps, and the Song continued the system. Beginning in the fourth year of Jianlong, imperial envoys were sent in turn to the Guanxi circuit to mobilize local militia for Qing Prefecture. In the fourth year of Xianping, each tax-registered household in Shaanxi was required to furnish one man, called a Baoyi; the state issued grain and stipends and had them take turns on frontier garrison duty. In the fifth year, the number of able-bodied men along the Shaanxi frontier enrolled as Baoyi reached 68,775. In the seventh month, because recruiting soldiers away from home was thought to disturb local harmony, an edict ruled that households drafted as stalwart militia in each prefecture should pay taxes only within that prefecture, and officials were forbidden to redirect collection elsewhere. Previously in Hebei, men in the Loyal Martyrs and Manifest Valor corps who had no successor could not be struck from the rolls even when old or infirm. On this occasion an edict declared that hereafter men who truly lacked a household estate to supply a replacement might be discharged as they wished. From then until the Tianxi era, among the Broad Sharp troops of Bing and Dai, substitutes were allowed for aged or sick soldiers even when not related, provided someone was willing to take their place. For Hebei stalwart militia, to avoid disrupting the farming season, they were assembled and drilled only on the ten-day rest days between the tenth month and the first month. Vacancies left when Loyal Martyrs, Manifest Valor, or Broad Sharp men returned to farming were all filled by replacements dispatched from the capital; those who had garrisoned the Yellow River frontier for many years were specially rotated and reassigned; and men who were poor and alone and could not afford to find a substitute were to be certified locally and released from service.
3
當是時，河北、河東有神銳、忠勇、強壯，河北有忠順、強人，陝西有保毅、砦戶、強人、強人弓手，河東、陝西有弓箭手，河北東、陝西有義勇，麟州有義兵，川陝有土丁、壯丁，荊湖南、北有弩手、土丁，廣南東、西有槍手、土丁，邕州有溪洞壯丁、土丁，廣南東、西有壯丁。
At that time the empire fielded a patchwork of local forces: Shenrui, Loyal Valor, and stalwart militia in Hebei and Hedong; Loyal Obedience troops and scouts in Hebei; Baoyi, stockade households, scouts, and scout bowmen in Shaanxi; archers in Hedong and Shaanxi; righteous volunteers in eastern Hebei and Shaanxi; righteous troops at Lin; native and sturdy levies in Chuan-Shaan; crossbowmen and native levies in northern and southern Jinghu; spearmen and native levies in eastern and western Guangnan; stream-cave sturdy youths and native levies at Yong; and sturdy youths again in eastern and western Guangnan.
4
當仁宗時，神銳、忠勇、強壯久廢，忠順、保毅僅有存者。 康定初，詔河北、河東添籍強壯，河北凡二十九萬三千，河東十四萬四千，皆以時訓練。 自西師屢衄，正兵不足，乃籍陝西之民，三丁選一，以爲鄉弓手。 未幾，刺充保捷，爲指揮一百八十五，分戍邊州。 西師罷，多揀放焉。 慶曆二年，籍河北強壯，得二十九萬五千，揀十之七爲義勇，且籍民丁以補其不足。 河東揀籍如河北法。
By Emperor Renzong's reign, Shenrui, Loyal Valor, and stalwart militia had long since lapsed, and only remnants of Loyal Obedience and Baoyi remained. Early in the Kangding era, the court ordered fresh enrollment of stalwart militia in Hebei and Hedong—293,000 in Hebei and 144,000 in Hedong—all to be trained on a regular schedule. After repeated defeats in the western campaigns left the regular army short-handed, the state registered Shaanxi inhabitants, selecting one man from every three, as local bowmen. Before long they were branded and drafted into the Baojie corps as 185 commands, posted to garrison frontier prefectures. When the western war ended, most were screened out and released. In the second year of Qingli the state registered Hebei stalwart militia, mustering 295,000 men; seven-tenths were chosen as righteous volunteers, and additional civilian males were enrolled to fill the gaps. Hedong applied the same selection and enrollment procedures as Hebei.
5
其後，議者論「義勇爲河北伏兵，以時講習，無待儲廩，得古寓兵于農之意。 惜其束於列郡，止以爲城守之備。 誠能令河北邢、冀二州分東西兩路，命二郡守分領，以時閱習，寇至，即兩路義勇翔集赴援，使其腹背受敵，則河北三十余所常伏銳兵矣」。 朝廷下其議，河北帥臣李昭亮等議曰：「昔唐澤潞留後李抱真籍戶丁男，三選其一，農隙則分曹角射，歲終都試，以示賞罰，三年皆善射，舉部內得勁卒二萬。 既無廩費，府庫益實，乃繕甲兵爲戰具，遂雄視山東。 是時，天下稱昭義步兵冠于諸軍，此近代之顯效，而或謂民兵只可城守，難備戰陣，非通論也。 但當無事時，便分義勇爲兩路，置官統領，以張用兵之勢，外使敵人疑而生謀，內亦搖動衆心，非計之得。 姑令在所點集訓練，三二年間，武藝稍精，漸習行陣。 遇有警，得將臣如抱真者統馭，制其陣隊，示以賞罰，何敵不可戰哉？ 至於部分佈列，量敵應機，系于臨時便宜，亦難預圖。 況河北、河東皆邊州之地，自置義勇，州縣以時按閱，耳目已熟，行固無疑。」 詔如所議。
Later commentators argued that righteous volunteers were Hebei's hidden reserve: drilled on schedule, they required no state granaries, reviving the ancient ideal of soldiers living among farmers. Yet they regretted that the men were tied to individual prefectures and used only for local garrison duty. If Xing and Ji in Hebei were split into eastern and western commands under two prefects who drilled them on schedule, invaders would find volunteers from both routes converging at once to strike front and rear—then more than thirty Hebei districts would always have elite troops in reserve.' The court circulated the proposal; Hebei commander Li Zhaoliang and others replied: 'In Tang times the Ze-Lu commissioner Li Baozhen enrolled household males, taking one in three; in slack farming seasons they drilled by squads in archery contests, and at year's end the whole force was tested for rewards and punishments. Within three years every man could shoot well, and the circuit fielded 20,000 crack troops. Without granary costs the treasury grew richer; they outfitted armor and weapons and came to dominate Shandong. All under Heaven then hailed the Zhaoyi infantry as the finest in the realm—a striking recent precedent—yet some still claim militia can only hold cities and cannot fight in the field; that is no universal rule. Yet to split the volunteers into two commands in peacetime, with officials over each, merely to display military might would invite enemy suspicion abroad and unsettle the people at home—not a sound plan. For the present let each district muster and train them; in two or three years their skills will sharpen and they will gradually learn field maneuvers. When danger comes, put a commander like Baozhen in charge, set their formations, and enforce rewards and punishments—what foe could they not face? As for deploying units, sizing up the enemy, and adapting on the spot—that must be left to commanders in the moment and cannot be charted beforehand. Besides, Hebei and Hedong are frontier regions where each prefecture maintains its own volunteers and county officials inspect them on schedule; commanders already know the men, so deployments raise no doubts.' The court adopted their recommendation.
6
治平元年，宰相韓琦言：「古者籍民爲兵，數雖多而贍至薄。 唐置府兵，最爲近之，後廢不能復。 今之義勇，河北幾十五萬，河東幾八萬，勇悍純實，出於天性，而有物力資產，父母妻子之所系，若稍加練簡，與唐府兵何異？ 陝西嘗刺弓手爲保捷，河北、河東、陝西，皆控西北，事當一體。 請于陝西諸州亦點義勇，止涅手背，一時不無小擾，終成長利。」 天子納其言，乃遣籍陝西義勇，得十三萬八千四百六十五人。
In the first year of Zhiping, Chief Councilor Han Qi said: 'In antiquity civilians were registered as soldiers; though their numbers were vast, state support was meager. The Tang fubing system came closest to that ideal, yet once abolished it could never be revived. Today's righteous volunteers number nearly 150,000 in Hebei and 80,000 in Hedong—fierce, honest men by nature, with farms, families, and property at stake; with a little more drilling, how would they differ from Tang fubing? Shaanxi once branded bowmen into the Baojie corps; Hebei, Hedong, and Shaanxi all secure the northwest and ought to be handled as one system. I ask that Shaanxi prefectures enroll righteous volunteers too, branding only the back of the hand; there will be brief local disruption, but lasting gain in the end.' The emperor accepted his advice and ordered enrollment of Shaanxi righteous volunteers, mustering 138,465 men.
7
是時，諫官司馬光累奏，謂：「陝西頃嘗籍鄉弓手，始諭以不去鄉里。 既而涅爲保捷正兵，遣戍邊州，其後不可用，遂汰爲民，徒使一路騷然，而于國無補。 且祖宗平一海內，曷嘗有義勇哉？ 自趙元昊反，諸將覆師相繼，終不能出一旅之衆，涉區脫之地。 當是時，三路鄉兵數十萬，何嘗得一人之力？ 議者必曰：'河北、河東不用衣廩，得勝兵數十萬，閱教精熟，皆可以戰； 又兵出民間，合于古制。 '臣謂不然。 彼數十萬者，虛數也； 閱教精熟者，外貌也； 兵出民間者，名與古同而實異。 蓋州縣承朝廷之意，止求數多。 閱教之日，觀者但見其旗號鮮明，鉦鼓備具，行列有序，進退有節，莫不以爲真可以戰。 殊不知彼猶聚戲，若遇敵，則瓦解星散，不知所之矣。 古者兵出民間，耕桑所得，皆以衣食其家，故處則富足，出則精銳。 今既賦斂農民粟帛以給正軍，又籍其身以爲兵，是一家而給二家之事也。 如此，民之財力安得不屈？ 臣愚以爲河北、河東已刺之民，猶當放還，況陝西未刺之民乎？」 帝弗聽。 於是三路鄉兵，唯義勇爲最盛。
At this time Remonstrance Official Sim Guang repeatedly memorialized: 'Shaanxi had just enrolled local bowmen after promising they would never leave home. Then they were branded as Baojie regulars and posted to frontier prefectures; later, found useless, they were discharged as civilians, throwing the whole circuit into turmoil with no gain for the state. Besides, when our founding emperors pacified the realm, did they ever rely on righteous volunteers? Since Zhao Yuanhao's rebellion, commanders have lost army after army, yet never led even a single brigade into Tangut territory. At that time the three circuits fielded hundreds of thousands of local militia—when did they contribute the strength of a single soldier? Advocates will surely say: 'Hebei and Hedong need no state rations, yet yield hundreds of thousands of crack troops drilled to perfection—all fit for battle; and soldiers drawn from the people match ancient practice. I say otherwise. Those hundreds of thousands are paper figures; their flawless drills are mere show; and troops 'from the people' share the ancient label but not the ancient reality. Prefectures and counties, obeying the court, chase head counts alone. On inspection days spectators see bright banners, full drums and gongs, neat ranks, and crisp maneuvers, and assume they are battle-ready. They do not realize it is still pageantry; faced with the enemy they would scatter like stars, each man fleeing wherever he could. In antiquity soldiers lived on their own farming income, so at home they were prosperous and in the field they fought as elites. Today farmers' grain and cloth feed the regular army while their bodies are enrolled as militia—one household is taxed to sustain two armies. How can popular wealth and strength fail to buckle under such a burden? I hold that even the already branded men of Hebei and Hedong ought to be sent home—how much more the unbranded people of Shaanxi?' The emperor would not listen. Thereafter among the three circuits' local forces, righteous volunteers alone flourished most.
8
熙甯以來，則尤重蕃兵、保甲之法，餘多承舊制。 前史沿革，不復具述，取其有損益者著於篇。 南渡而後，土宇雖不及前，而兵制多仍其故，凡其鄉兵、砦兵之可改者，皆附見焉。
From the Xining reforms onward the court especially emphasized tribal auxiliaries and the baojia system, while most other arrangements followed earlier practice. Earlier evolution is not rehearsed in full; only changes of real consequence are recorded here. After the court moved south, though territory shrank, military institutions largely persisted; relevant changes to local and stockade militia are noted in the sections below.
9
陝西保毅
Shaanxi Baoyi Militia
10
陝西保毅開寶八年，發渭州平涼、潘原二縣民治城隍，因立爲保毅弓箭手，分戍鎮砦。 能自置馬，免役。 逃、死，以親屬代，因周廣順舊制也。
In Kaibao 8 the state drafted men from Pingliang and Panyuan in Wei Prefecture to repair fortifications and enrolled them as Baoyi archers, posted to frontier forts and stockades. Men who furnished their own horses were exempt from labor service. Deserters and the dead were replaced by relatives, following the Later Zhou Guangshun precedent.
11
咸平初，秦州極邊止置千人，分番守戍。 上番人月給米六斗，仲冬，賜指揮使至副都頭紫綾綿袍，十將以下皂綾袍。 五年，點陝西沿邊丁壯充保毅，凡得六萬八千人。 給資糧，與正兵同戍邊郡。
Early in Xianping only 1,000 men were posted on Qin's outer frontier, serving in rotating shifts. Active-duty men received six dou of grain per month; in mid-winter commanders through deputy squad leaders were given purple damask cotton robes and junior leaders black damask robes. In the fifth year the state drafted 68,000 able-bodied frontier men in Shaanxi as Baoyi. They received rations and garrisoned frontier prefectures alongside regular troops.
12
慶曆初，詔悉刺爲保捷軍，唯秦州增置及三千人，環、慶、保安亦各籍置。 是時，諸州總六千五百十八人，爲指揮三十一。
Early in Qingli an edict branded them all into the Baojie corps; Qin alone added 3,000 men, and Huan, Qing, and Bao'an each enrolled their own contingents. At that time the prefectures together fielded 6,518 men in 31 commands.
13
皇祐五年，涇原都總管程戡上言：「陝西保毅，近歲止給役州縣，無復責以武技。 自黥刺爲保捷，而家猶不免於保毅之籍，或折賣田產，而得產者以分數助役。 今秦州僅三千人，久廢農業，請罷遣。」 詔自今敢私役者，計傭坐之。 治平初，詔置保毅田承名額者，悉揀刺以爲義勇。 熙寧四年，詔廢其軍。
In Huangyou 5 Jingyuan supreme commander Cheng Zhan reported: 'Shaanxi Baoyi lately serve only as corvée labor for local governments and are no longer drilled in arms. Even after branding as Baojie, families remain on Baoyi registers; some sell land cheaply, and buyers must share corvée duty in proportion. Qin now has only 3,000 men who have long neglected farming; I ask that the corps be abolished and the men released.' An edict declared that anyone who privately impressed them into service would be punished under the statutes on unlawful hiring. Early in Zhiping holders of Baoyi land quotas were all selected and branded as righteous volunteers. In Xining 4 the court abolished the corps.
14
環慶砦戶、強人弓手，九年，詔如禁軍法，上其籍，隸于馬軍司，廩給視中禁軍。
In year 9 stockade households and scout bowmen of Huan and Qing were ordered to follow forbidden-army rules, report their rolls to the Horse Army Directorate, and receive rations equal to middle-grade palace troops.
15
河北忠順
Hebei Loyal Obedience Troops
16
河北忠順自太宗朝以瀛、莫、雄、霸州、乾甯、順安、保定軍置忠順，凡三千人，分番巡徼，隸沿邊戰棹巡檢司。 自十月悉上，人給糧二升，至二月輪半營農。 慶曆七年，夏竦建議與正兵參戍。 八年，以水沴，多逋亡者，權益正兵代其闕額。 皇祐四年，權放業農，後不復補。
From Taizong's reign Loyal Obedience corps of 3,000 were raised in Ying, Mo, Xiong, Ba, Qianning, Shun'an, and Baoding, rotating on patrol under the frontier war-boat patrol office. From the tenth month all reported for duty with two sheng of grain per man until the second month, when half the men rotated home to farm. In Qingli 7 Xia Song proposed posting them alongside regular troops. In the eighth year floods drove many to desert, and regular troops temporarily filled the gaps. In Huangyou 4 they were temporarily sent back to farming and never refilled.
17
河北陝西強人砦戶
Hebei and Shaanxi Scouts and Stockade Households
18
河北陝西強人、砦戶、強人弓手名號不一。 咸平四年，募河北民諳契丹道路、勇銳可爲間伺者充強人，置都頭、指揮使。 無事散處田野，寇至追集，給器甲、口糧、食錢，遣出塞偷斫賊壘，能斬首級、奪馬者如賞格。 虜獲財畜皆畀之。 慶曆二年，環州亦募，涅手背，自備戎械並馬，置押官、甲頭、隊長，戶四等以下免役，上番防守，月給奉廩。 三年，涇原路被邊城砦悉置。
Scouts, stockade households, and scout bowmen in Hebei and Shaanxi went under various names. In Xianping 4 the state recruited Hebei men who knew Khitan routes and were bold enough for scouting, appointing squad chiefs and commanders. In peacetime they lived scattered in the countryside; when raiders came they were called up, issued arms, rations, and pay, and sent across the border to strike enemy camps; head counts and captured horses were rewarded on the bounty scale. All enemy goods and livestock they captured were theirs to keep. In Qingli 2 Huan Prefecture enrolled them too, branding the back of the hand; men supplied arms and horses; officers, squad heads, and team leaders were appointed; households of the fourth rank or lower were exempt from corvée; on active duty they garrisoned the frontier with monthly stipends. In the third year every frontier city and stockade on the Jingyuan circuit had them in place.
19
環、慶二州復有砦戶，康定中，以沿邊弓手涅手背充，有警召集防戍，與保毅弓手同。
Huan and Qing also fielded stockade households; in Kangding frontier bowmen were branded on the hand and called up when alarms sounded, like the Baoyi archers.
20
大順城、西谷砦有強人弓手，天禧、慶曆間募置，番戍爲巡徼斥候，日給糧。 人賦田八十畝，能自備馬者益賦四十畝。 遇防秋，官給器甲，下番隨軍訓練。 爲指揮六。
Dashun City and Xigu Stockade had scout bowmen recruited between Tianxi and Qingli who rotated as frontier scouts with a daily grain ration. Each man was granted eighty mu of land; those who furnished their own horses received forty mu more. During the autumn defense season the state issued armor, and between rotations they drilled with the army. They were organized into six commands.
21
河北河東強壯
Hebei and Hedong Stalwart Militia
22
河北、河東強壯五代時，瀛、霸諸州已置。 咸平三年，詔河北家二丁、三丁籍一，四丁、五丁籍二，六丁、七丁籍三，八丁以上籍四，爲強壯。 五百人爲指揮，置指揮使； 百人爲都，置正、副都頭二人、節級四人。 所在置籍，擇善騎射者第補校長，聽自置馬，勝甲者蠲其戶役。 五年，募其勇敢，團結附大軍爲柵，官給鎧甲。 景德元年，遣使分詣河北、河東集強壯，借庫兵給糧訓練，非緣邊即分番迭教，寇至悉集守城，寇退營農。
Stalwart militia in Hebei and Hedong dated to the Five Dynasties, when Ying, Ba, and other prefectures first raised them. In Xianping 3 the court ordered Hebei households to enroll stalwart militia by male count: one man from households of two or three sons, two from four or five, three from six or seven, and four from eight or more. Every five hundred men formed a command under a commander; every hundred formed a company with chief and deputy heads and four rank officers. Each district kept rolls, promoting skilled riders and archers as squad leaders; men who supplied their own horses were allowed to do so, and the best armored fighters were exempt from household corvée. In the fifth year the brave were recruited, grouped as palisade auxiliaries to the main army, and issued government armor. In Jingde 1 envoys were sent to Hebei and Hedong to muster stalwart militia, issue arsenal arms and grain for training, drill interior districts in rotating shifts, mass everyone for city defense when raiders came, and send them back to the fields when raiders withdrew.
23
至康定初，州縣不復閱習，其籍多亡。 乃詔二路選補，增其數，爲伍保，迭糾遊惰及作奸者。 二十五人爲團，置押官； 四團爲都，置正、副都頭各一人； 五都爲指揮，置指揮使，各以階級伏事。 年二十系籍，六十免，取家人或他戶代之。 歲正月，縣以籍上州，州以籍奏兵部，按舉不如法者。 慶曆二年，悉揀以爲義勇，不預者釋之，而存其籍，以備守葺城池。 而河東強壯自此浸廢矣。
By early Kangding local governments had stopped inspecting drills and most rolls were lost. An edict ordered both circuits to refill the ranks, increase numbers, and form five-man mutual-security groups to report idlers and criminals. Twenty-five men formed a platoon under a supervising officer; four platoons formed a company with chief and deputy heads; five companies formed a command under a commander, with rank determining subordination. Men entered the rolls at twenty and left at sixty, replaced by relatives or other households. Each first month counties forwarded rolls to prefectures, prefectures reported to the Ministry of War, and violators were prosecuted. In Qingli 2 all were screened for righteous volunteer service; men not selected were released but kept on the rolls for wall repair and garrison duty. Hedong stalwart militia thereafter gradually lapsed.
24
其募于河北者，舊給塘泊河淤之田，力不足以耕，重苦番教，應募者寡。 熙寧七年罷之，以其田募民耕，戶兩頃，蠲其賦，以爲保甲。
Hebei recruits had been given pond and river-silt land they could not farm, and the burden of rotating drills made few men volunteer. In Xining 7 the system was abolished; the land was rented to farmers at two qing per household with tax remission for the baojia system.
25
河東陝西弓箭手
Hedong and Shaanxi Frontier Archers
26
河東、陝西弓箭手周廣順初，鎮州諸縣，十戶取材勇者一人爲之，餘九戶資以器甲芻糧。 建隆二年，詔釋之，凡一千四百人。
Hedong and Shaanxi frontier archers began in Later Zhou Guangshun, when Zhen Prefecture drafted one brave man from every ten households while the other nine supplied arms, armor, fodder, and grain. In Jianlong 2 an edict discharged all 1,400 of them.
27
景德二年，鎮戎軍曹瑋言：「有邊民應募爲弓箭手者，請給以閒田，蠲其徭賦，有警，可參正兵爲前鋒，而官無資糧戎械之費。」 詔：「人給田二頃，出甲士一人，及三頃者出戰馬一匹。 設堡戍，列部伍，補指揮使以下，據兵有功勞者，亦補軍都指揮使，置巡檢以統之。」 其後，鄜延、環慶、涇原並河東州軍亦各募置。
In Jingde 2 Zhenrong commander Cao Wei proposed granting idle land and tax exemption to border volunteers enrolled as archers so that, when alarms sounded, they could serve as vanguard alongside regulars without state expense for rations or arms.' The court ruled that each man received two qing of land and furnished one armored soldier, while holders of three qing also furnished a war horse. Forts were built, units organized, officers appointed through commander rank, meritorious men promoted even to army commander, and patrol inspectors placed over them.' Thereafter Fuyan, Huan-Qing, Jingyuan, and Hedong circuits each raised their own archer corps.
28
慶曆中，諸路總三萬二千四百七十四人，爲指揮一百九十二。 是時，河東都轉運使歐陽修言：「代州、岢嵐、寧化、火山軍被邊地幾二三萬頃，請募人墾種，充弓箭手。」 詔宣撫使范仲淹議，以爲便。 遂以岢嵐軍北草城川禁地募人拒敵界十里外占耕，得二千餘戶，歲輸租數萬斛，自備弓馬，涅手背爲弓箭手。 既以并州明鎬沮議而止。
During the Qingli era the circuits together fielded 32,474 archers in 192 commands. At this time Hedong transport commissioner Ouyang Xiu urged recruiting settlers to farm the twenty or thirty thousand qing of frontier land in Dai, Kelan, Ninghua, and Huoshan as archers.' The court referred the plan to Pacification Commissioner Fan Zhongyan, who approved it. Settlers were then recruited to farm forbidden land at Caocheng River north of Kelan, ten li beyond the enemy border; more than 2,000 households paid tens of thousands of hu in rent yearly, supplied their own bows and horses, and were branded on the hand as archers. The scheme was soon halted when Bing Prefecture's Ming Hao blocked it.
29
至和二年，韓琦奏訂鎬議非是，曰：「昔潘美患契丹數入寇，遂驅旁邊耕民內徙，苟免一時失備之咎。 其後契丹講和，因循不復許人復業，遂名禁地，歲久爲戎人侵耕，漸失疆界。 今代州、寧化軍有禁地萬頃，請如草城川募弓箭手，可得四千餘戶。」 下并州富弼議。 弼請如琦奏。 詔具爲條，視山坡川原均給，人二頃； 其租秋一輸，川地畝五升，阪原地畝三升，毋折變科徭。 仍指揮即山險爲屋，以便居止，備征防，無得擅役。
In Zhihe 2 Han Qi argued that Ming Hao was mistaken: 'When Pan Mei, troubled by repeated Khitan raids, drove frontier farmers inland, he only avoided blame for a momentary lapse in defense. After peace with the Khitan the court never let them return; the land became forbidden territory, and over time foreign peoples farmed it until the border itself eroded. Today Dai and Ninghua still hold ten thousand qing of forbidden land; recruiting archers as at Caocheng River could yield more than 4,000 households.' The proposal was referred to Fu Bi in Bing Prefecture. Fu Bi endorsed Han Qi's plan. An edict laid down rules: land was allotted by terrain at two qing per man; with a single autumn payment of five sheng per mu on valley land and three on slopes and plains, and no added corvée conversions. They were to build houses on defensible heights, remain ready for campaigns, and not be impressed for unauthorized labor.
30
先是，麟、府、豐州亦以閒田募置，人給屋，貸口糧二石，而德順軍靜邊砦壕外弓箭手尤爲勁勇。 夏人利其地，數來爭占，朝廷爲築堡戍守。 至治平末，河東七州軍弓箭手總七千五百人，陝西十州軍並砦戶總四萬六千三百人。 先是，康定元年，詔麟、府州募歸業人增補義軍，俾耕本戶故地而免其稅租。 其制與弓箭手略同，而不給田。
Earlier Lin, Fu, and Feng had recruited archers on idle land, granting houses and two shi of grain loans; the archers beyond the moat at Jingbian Stockade in Deshun were especially formidable. The Tanguts coveted the land and repeatedly encroached, so the court built forts to hold it. By the end of Zhiping Hedong's seven prefectures and armies fielded 7,500 archers, and Shaanxi's ten prefectures and armies with stockade households 46,300. Earlier, in Kangding 1, Lin and Fu were ordered to recruit returned farmers into the righteous army, letting them farm their old lands tax-free. The system resembled that of archers but without land grants.
31
熙寧二年，兵部上河東七郡舊籍七千五、今籍七千，陝西十郡並砦戶舊籍四萬六千三百，今唯秦鳳有砦戶。
In Xining 2 the Ministry of War reported Hedong's seven prefectures at 7,000 men on the rolls versus 7,500 formerly, and Shaanxi's ten prefectures down from 46,300 archers and stockade households to stockade households in Qinfeng alone.
32
三年，秦鳳路經略使李師中言：「前年築熟羊等堡，募蕃部獻地，置弓箭手。 迄今三年，所募非良民，初未嘗團結訓練，竭力田事。 今當置屯列堡，爲戰守計。 置屯之法，百人爲屯，授田於旁塞堡，將校領農事，休即教武技。 其牛具、農器、旗鼓之屬並官予。 置堡之法，諸屯並力，自近及遠築爲堡以備寇至，寇退則悉出掩擊。」 從之。
In the third year Qinfeng commissioner Li Shizhong reported: 'Two years ago we built Shuyang and other forts, accepted tribal land grants, and enrolled archers. Three years on, the recruits have been poor subjects, never organized or drilled and never devoted to farming. We should now establish farm colonies and a chain of forts for defense and offense. Colonies would comprise one hundred men each, granted land beside frontier forts; officers would supervise farming and drill martial skills in off seasons. Oxen, tools, farm implements, flags, and drums would all be state-issued. Forts would be built jointly from near to far; when raiders came the colonists would shelter in them, and when raiders withdrew they would sally out in ambush.' The court approved the plan.
33
五年，趙禼爲鄜延路，以其地萬五千九百頃，募漢、蕃弓箭手四千九百人。 帝嘉其能省募兵之費，褒賞之。 六年，禼言新募弓箭手頗習武技，請更番代正兵歸京師。 詔審度之。 十月，詔熙河路以公田募弓箭手，其旁塞民強勇願自占田，出租賦，聯保伍，或義勇願應募，或民戶願受蕃部地者聽。
In the fifth year Zhao Xu on the Fuyan circuit used 15,900 qing of land to recruit 4,900 Han and tribal archers. The emperor praised his savings on recruitment costs and rewarded him. In the sixth year Xu reported that the new archers were well drilled and asked to rotate them in place of regulars sent back to the capital. The court ordered a review. In the tenth month the Xihe circuit was ordered to recruit archers on public land; brave frontier settlers who claimed land and paid taxes, joined mutual-security groups, volunteered as righteous militia, or accepted tribal land were all allowed to enroll.
34
七年正月，帶禦器械王中正詣熙河路，以土田募弓箭手。 所募人毋拘路分遠近，不依常格，差官召募，仍親提舉。 三月，王韶言：「河州近城川地招漢弓箭手外，其山坡地招蕃弓箭手，人給地一頃，蕃官兩頃，大蕃官三頃。 仍募漢弓箭手等爲甲頭，候招及人數，補節級人員，與蕃官同管勾。 自來出軍，多爲漢兵盜殺蕃兵，以爲首功。 今蕃兵各願于左耳前刺'蕃兵'字。」 從之。 十月，中書條例司乞五路弓箭手、砦戶，除防拓、巡警及緩急事許差發外，若修城諸役，即申經略安撫、鈐轄司。 其有擅差發及科配、和雇者，並科違制之罪。 從之。 其夔州路義軍、廣南槍手土丁峒丁、湖南弩手、福建鄉丁槍手，依此法。
In the first month of the seventh year Bearer of Imperial Arms Wang Zhongzheng went to Xihe to recruit archers with land grants. Recruits were not limited by circuit boundaries or usual quotas; officials were dispatched to enroll them under his personal supervision. In the third month Wang Shao proposed recruiting Han archers on He Prefecture's lowland near the city and tribal archers on the slopes—one qing per man, two for tribal officers, and three for senior tribal officers. Han archers would serve as squad heads, and once quotas were met rank officers would be appointed to administer them jointly with tribal officers. On campaign Han soldiers had often killed tribal auxiliaries in secret to claim head rewards. Tribal soldiers now asked to tattoo the words 'tribal soldier' before the left ear.' The court approved. In the tenth month the Central Secretariat Regulations Office ruled that archers and stockade households in the five circuits could be dispatched only for frontier defense, patrol, and emergencies; other tasks such as wall repair required approval from pacification and military control offices. Unauthorized dispatch, requisition, or hired labor would be punished as a regulatory violation. The court approved. The same rules applied to Kuizhou righteous troops, Guangnan spearmen and native and cave levies, Hunan crossbowmen, and Fujian local spearmen.
35
八年，詔涇原路七駐泊就糧上下番正兵、弓箭手、蕃兵約七萬餘人分爲五將，別置熙河策應將副。 十年，知延州呂惠卿言：「自熙寧五年，招到弓箭手，只是權行差補，未曾團定指揮。 本司見將本路團結將分團成指揮都分，置立將校統轄，即于臨時易爲勾集。」 從之。
In the eighth year Jingyuan's roughly 70,000 rotating regulars, archers, and tribal troops at seven grain stations were divided into five commands, with a separate Xihe support deputy. In the tenth year Yan Prefecture prefect Lü Huiqing reported that since Xining 5 recruited archers had only been filled in temporarily and never organized into fixed commands. His office proposed dividing the circuit's organized units into command sections under officers so they could be mustered quickly when needed.' The court approved.
36
元豐二年，計議措置邊防所言，以涇原路正兵、漢蕃弓箭手爲十一將，分駐諸州。 從之。
In the second year of Yuanfeng the Border Defense Planning Office proposed organizing Jingyuan's regulars and Han and tribal archers into eleven commands posted across the prefectures. The court approved.
37
三年，詔：「凡弓箭手兵騎各以五十人爲隊，置引戰、旗頭、左右傔旗，及以本屬酋首將校爲擁隊，並如正軍法。 蕃捉生、蕃敢勇、山河戶亦如之。 凡募弓箭手、蕃捉生、強人、山河戶，不以等樣，第募有保任、年十七已上、弓射七斗、任負帶者。 鄜延路新舊蕃捉生、環慶路強人、諸路漢弓箭手、鄜延路歸明界保毅蕃戶弓箭手，皆涅於手背。」
In the third year an edict ordered archer infantry and cavalry formed into fifty-man squads with battle-leaders, standard-bearers, flank guards, and tribal chiefs as escorts, all under regular army rules. Tribal scouts, tribal dare-to-dies, and mountain-river households followed the same rules. Recruits for archers, tribal scouts, strong men, and mountain-river households were chosen regardless of status, provided they had guarantors, were at least seventeen, could shoot seven dou, and could bear armor. Fuyan's old and new tribal scouts, Huan-Qing strong men, Han archers on every circuit, and Fuyan's returned-submission-border tribal-household archers were all branded on the hand.'
38
四年，涇原路經略司言：「本路弓箭手闕地九千七百頃，渭州隴山一帶川原陂地四千餘頃，可募弓箭手二千餘人，或不願應募，乞收其地入官。」 熙河路都大經制司言； 「乞依熙河舊例，許涇原、秦鳳路、環慶及熙河路弓箭手投換，仍帶舊戶田土，耕種二年，即收入官，別招弓箭手。」 皆從之。
In the fourth year Jingyuan reported 9,700 qing of archer land still vacant and more than 4,000 qing along Long Mountain in Wei where 2,000 archers could be recruited—or, if none volunteered, the land should revert to the state.' The Xihe supreme control office added: 'It asked that Jingyuan, Qinfeng, Huan-Qing, and Xihe archers be allowed to transfer under the old Xihe rule, keeping their original land for two years of farming before the state reclaimed it and enrolled new archers.' Both proposals were approved.
39
五年正月，鄜延路經略司乞以新收復米脂、吳堡、義合、細浮圖、塞門五砦地置漢蕃弓箭手，及春耕種，其約束補職，並用舊條。 從之。 二月，詔提舉熙河等路弓箭手、營田、蕃部共爲一司，隸涇原路制置司。 四月，詔：「蕃弓箭手陣亡，依漢弓箭手給賻。 弓箭手出戰，因傷及病羸不能自還者，並依軍例賜其家。」 七月，提舉熙河路弓箭手營田蕃部司康識、兼提舉舉營田張大寧言：「乞應新收復地差官分畫經界，選知農事廂軍耕佃，頃一人。 其部押人員、節級及雇助人工歲入賞罰，並用熙河官莊法。 余並招弓箭手營田，每五十頃爲一營，差諳農事官一員幹當。」 從之。
In the first month of the fifth year Fuyan asked to settle Han and tribal archers on newly recovered land at the five stockades of Mizhi, Wubao, Yihe, Xifutu, and Saimen for spring planting, under the old appointment rules. The court approved. In the second month archer, military-farm, and tribal affairs for Xihe and related circuits were combined under one office subordinate to Jingyuan. In the fourth month the court ruled that tribal archers killed in battle received the same funeral gifts as Han archers. Archers wounded or too ill to return from battle received family grants under army precedent.' In the seventh month supervisors Kang Shi and Zhang Daning asked that newly recovered land be surveyed, with knowledgeable garrison troops assigned one qing each to farm it. Rewards and punishments for platoon officers, rank officers, and hired labor followed Xihe official-estate rules. The rest would be farmed by archer colonies of fifty qing each under an agricultural officer.' The court approved.
40
六年，鄜延路經略司言：「弓箭手於近裏縣置田兩處，立戶及四丁已上，乞取一丁爲保甲，一丁爲弓箭手，有二丁至三丁，即且令充弓箭手。」 詔保甲願充弓箭手者聽，其見充弓箭手與當丁役，毋得退就保甲，陝西、河東亦如之。
In the sixth year Fuyan reported that archers held land in two nearby counties; households of four males or more should furnish one baojia member and one archer, while households of two or three should temporarily supply an archer.' Baojia members who wished to become archers were allowed, but active archers fulfilling the male quota could not revert to baojia; Shaanxi and Hedong followed the same rule.
41
八年，詔罷秦鳳路置場集教弓箭手，令經略司講求土人習教所宜立法。
In the eighth year the court abolished Qinfeng's centralized archer training grounds and ordered the commissioner to draft rules suited to local practice.
42
元祐元年，詔罷提舉熙河等路弓箭營田蕃部司。 三年，兵部言：「涇原路隴山一帶系官地，例爲人侵冒，略無色役。 非自朝廷置局招置摽撥，無以杜絕奸弊。」 從之。 其後，殿前司副都指揮使劉昌祚奏根括隴山地凡一萬九百九十頃，招置弓箭手人馬凡五千二百六十一，賜敕書獎諭。 四年，詔將隴山一帶弓箭手人馬別置一將管幹，仍以涇原路第十二將爲名。 五年，詔戶部遣官往熙河蘭岷路代孫路措置弓箭手土田。
In Yuanyou 1 the Supervisory Office for Xihe Archers, Military Farms, and Tribal Affairs was abolished. In the third year the Ministry of War reported that government land along Long Mountain in Jingyuan was routinely encroached upon and paid virtually no tax or corvée. Only a court office to recruit settlers and allocate the land could stop the abuses.' The court approved. Later deputy Palace Front commander Liu Changzuo reported surveying 10,990 qing along Long Mountain and enrolling 5,261 archers and horses; the emperor rewarded him with a commendatory edict. In the fourth year Long Mountain archers and horses were placed under a separate command, still called the Twelfth Command of Jingyuan. In the fifth year Revenue officials were sent to the Xihe-Lan-Min circuit to replace Sun Lu in managing archer land grants.
43
紹聖元年，樞密院言：「熙河蘭岷路經略司奏，本路弓箭手，自展置以來，累經戰鬥，內有戰功補三班差使已上之人，欲並遣歸所屬差使，仍以其地令親屬承刺，如無，即別召人承之。」 三年正月，詔：「自今漢蕃人互投弓箭手者，官司不得收刺，違者杖一百。」 五月，詔在京府界、諸路馬軍槍手並改充弓箭手，兼習蕃槍。 四年，詔張詢、巴宜專根括安西、金城膏腴地頃畝，可以招置弓箭手若干人，具團結以聞。
In Shaosheng 1 the Bureau of Military Affairs reported that the Xihe-Lan-Min commissioner asked to return archers promoted for merit to third-rank posts or above to their original assignments, let relatives inherit their land by branding, and recruit successors where no kin existed. In the first month of the third year, the throne decreed that whenever Han and tribal subjects cross-enrolled each other as militia archers, local offices were forbidden to press them into registered service with the customary hand-tattoo; offenders were to be beaten one hundred strokes. In the fifth month, an edict transferred every mounted lancer in the capital region and across the circuits into the archer corps, requiring them to master tribal spear-fighting as well. In the fourth year, the court charged Zhang Xun and Ba Yi with a thorough land survey of the rich soil in Anxi and Jincheng, calculating how many archers the districts could support and submitting a complete plan for their recruitment and grouping.
44
崇寧二年十一月，安師文奏：「據權通判德順軍事盧逢原申，根括打量出四將地分管下五砦、新占舊邊壕外地共四萬八千七百三十一頃有奇，乞特賜優賞。」 詔安師文特授左朝議大夫，差遣如故； 盧逢原特授朝請郎。
In the eleventh month of Chongning 2, An Shiwen reported that Lu Fengyuan, acting vice-prefect of De Shun Army, had surveyed the territories under the Four Commands and found 48,731-odd qing of land—covering five stockades plus newly seized ground beyond the old trench line—and requested special commendation for the work. The throne responded by promoting An Shiwen to Left Grandee for Discussion of Governance while leaving him in his present post. Lu Fengyuan received a special appointment as Gentleman for Attending at Court.
45
二年九月，熙河路都轉運使鄭僅奉詔相度措置熙河新疆邊防利害，僅奏：「朝廷給田養漢蕃弓箭手，本以藩扞邊面，使顧慮家產，人自爲力。 今拓境益遠，熙、秦漢蕃弓箭手乃在腹裏，理合移出。 然人情重遷，乞且家選一丁，官給口糧，團成耕夫使佃官莊。 遇成熟日，除糧種外，半入官，半給耕夫，候稍成次第，聽其所便。」 從之。
In the ninth month of the second year, Zheng Jin, chief transport commissioner of Xihe, was ordered to evaluate the new frontier defenses there. He submitted that the court had originally given land to Han and tribal archers so they would hold the border like a living palisade, tied to their homes and fighting from self-interest rather than compulsion. With the empire's reach stretching ever westward, the Han and tribal archers of Xi and Qin had been left behind in what was now the heartland; logically they should be redeployed to the new front. But resettlement was bitterly unpopular. He therefore proposed a compromise: each household would detail one man, the state would feed him, and the men would be organized as tenant farmers on government estates. At harvest, seed grain would be deducted first; the rest would be split evenly between the treasury and the farmers. Only after the system had settled into a steady rhythm would they be given greater freedom to arrange matters as they saw fit. The court accepted the plan.
46
五年三月，趙挺之言：「湟、鄯之復，歲費朝廷供億一千五百余萬。 鄭僅初建官莊之議，朝廷令會計其歲入，凡五莊之入，乃能支一莊之費。 蓋鄯、湟乃西蕃之二小國，湟州謂之邈川，鄯州謂之青唐，與河南本爲三國，其地濱河，多沃壤。 昔三國分據時，民之供輸于其國厚，而又每族各有酋長以統領之，皆衣食贍足，取於所屬之民。 自朝廷收復以來，名爲使蕃民各占舊地以居，其實屢更戰鬥，殺戮竄逐，所存無幾。 今兵將官、帥臣、知州多召閑民以居，貪冒者或受金乃與之地，又私取其羊馬駝畜，然無一毫租賦供官。 若以昔輸於三國者百分之一入于縣官，即湟州資費有餘矣。」 帝深然之。
In the third month of the fifth year, Zhao Tingzhi reported that holding Huang and Shan was draining the treasury of over fifteen million strings a year in supplies alone. When Zheng Jin had first proposed government farming estates, the court had audited their annual returns—and found that revenue from five estates barely covered the running costs of one. Shan and Huang, after all, had once been two petty kingdoms of the Western Tribes—Huang known as Miaochuan, Shan as Qingtang—part of a trio with Henan, all their lands strung along the river in broad belts of fertile ground. Under the old tripartite order, subjects had paid heavily to their own rulers; every clan had its chief, and those chiefs lived well—clothed, fed, and sustained entirely by the labor of the people beneath them. After imperial recovery, the policy was nominally one of letting tribal people return to their ancestral lands; in practice ceaseless war, massacre, and displacement had reduced the population to almost nothing. Nowadays commanders, circuit officials, and prefects were filling the land with opportunistic settlers; the corrupt sold plots for gold, skimmed off sheep, horses, and camels for themselves, and still sent not a copper of rent or tax to the state. Collect even one percent of what those peoples had once rendered to the three kingdoms, he argued, and Huangzhou would run a surplus. The emperor found the argument deeply persuasive.
47
翌日，知樞密院張康國入見，力言不可使新民出租，恐致擾動衆情； 且言蕃民既刺手背爲兵，安可更出租賦。 帝因宣諭：「新民不可搖動，兼已令多招弓箭手矣。」 廷之奏：「弓箭手，官給以地而不出租，此中國法也。 若蕃兵，則其舊俗既輸納供億之物，出戰又人皆爲兵，非弓箭手之比。 今朝廷所費不貲，經營數年，得此西蕃之地，若無一毫之入，而官吏、戍卒饋餉之費皆出於朝廷，何計之拙也！」 帝曰：「已令姚雄經畫。」 時累詔令雄括空閒地，召人耕墾出課，故深以挺之所奏爲然。 挺之又云：「鄯、湟之復，羌人屢叛，溪撦羅撒走降夏國，夏國納之，時時寇邊，兵不解嚴而饋運極艱。 和糴入粟，鄯州以每石價至七十貫，湟州五十餘貫。 蓋倉場利於客人入中乞取，而官吏利於請給斛鬥，中官獲利百倍，人人皆富。 是以上下相蒙，而爲朝廷之害。」
The next day Zhang Kangguo, head of the Bureau of Military Affairs, pressed the opposite case before the throne: taxing the new settlers would only stir unrest among them. Besides, he asked, the tribal people had already been branded on the hand as soldiers—how could they be taxed like ordinary farmers? The emperor cut the debate short with a public directive: the new settlers were not to be shaken; the court was already recruiting archers in greater numbers. Tingzhi pressed on in a memorial: archers received land from the state rent-free—that was Chinese law. Tribal warriors were another matter: by ancient custom they had always rendered supplies to their rulers, and in wartime every man fought. They could not be equated with militia archers. Yet the court was spending without measure. After years of struggle it had won this western territory—only to reap no revenue at all while officials, garrisons, and supply lines drained the treasury. What folly! The emperor replied that Yao Xiong had already been put in charge of working out a solution. Repeated edicts had already sent Yao Xiong to identify vacant land and bring settlers in to farm it and pay tax—so on this point, at least, the emperor sided firmly with Tingzhi. Tingzhi went on: since Shan and Huang had been retaken, the Qiang had rebelled again and again. Xipo Luosa had defected to Western Xia, which sheltered him and sent him raiding across the border. The garrisons never stood down, and moving grain to the front became a nightmare. Under the court's grain-purchase program, a single shi cost seventy strings at Shan and more than fifty at Huang. The reason was simple corruption: warehouse contractors profited when outside merchants delivered grain on credit; local officials profited when they requisitioned disbursements. Middlemen multiplied their gains a hundred times over, and everyone along the chain grew fat. Officialdom and contractors colluded from top to bottom—and the treasury paid the price.
48
熙寧三年，熙河運司以歲計不足，乞以官茶博糴，每茶三斤易粟一斛，其利甚博。 朝廷謂茶馬司本以博馬，不可以博糴，于茶馬司歲額外，增買川茶兩倍茶，朝廷別出錢二百萬給之，令提刑司封樁。 又令茶馬官程之邵兼領轉運使，由是數歲邊用粗足。 及挺之再相，熙河漕司屢申以軍糧不足爲急，乃令會去年拋降錢數共一千一百萬馱，一馱價直三千至四十千，二百馱所轉不可勝計，今年已降撥銀、錢、絹等共九百萬，乃令更支兩倍茶一百萬馱。 張康國同進呈，得旨，乃密檢元豐以來茶惟用博馬指揮以進。 然康國不知兩倍茶自非博馬之數，而何執中、鄧洵武雜然和之。 由是兩倍茶更不支給，而鄯、湟兵費不給矣。
In Xining 3, the Xihe transport commission, short on its annual budget, asked to barter official tea for grain at three jin of tea per shi—a trade wildly in its favor. The court ruled that the Tea-and-Horse Bureau existed to trade for horses, not grain. It therefore authorized a separate purchase of twice the usual allotment of Sichuan tea, funded by two million strings from the central treasury and held under seal by the judicial-intendant office. Cheng Zhi Shao of the Tea-and-Horse Bureau was also made transport commissioner; for several years after that, frontier needs were more or less met. When Tingzhi returned as chief councilor, Xihe's grain commissioners kept warning that military rations were critically short. Last year's appropriations alone had totaled eleven million pack-loads—each load valued anywhere from three to forty thousand strings—with transfers in the hundreds of loads beyond easy reckoning. Nine million in silver, cash, and silk had already been sent down this year; the court now ordered another million pack-loads' worth of the supplemental double tea released. Zhang Kangguo joined in the presentation, secured the emperor's assent, and then quietly dug up the Yuanfeng orders restricting tea to horse purchases and laid them before the throne. Kangguo, however, failed to grasp that the supplemental double tea had never belonged to the horse-trade quota—and He Zhizhong and Deng Xunwu piled on in agreement. The double tea was cut off—and with it went the means to pay for the armies at Shan and Huang.
49
七年，詔：「邊地廣而耕墾未至，膏腴荒閑，芻粟翔踴，歲糴本不貲。 昨累降指揮，令涇原路經略司與提舉弓箭手司措置，召人開墾，以助塞下積粟，爲備邊無窮之利。 訪聞提舉弓箭手司與經略司執見不同，措置議論，不務和協。 其提舉涇原路弓箭手錢歸善可罷。」
In the seventh year, an edict lamented that the borderlands were vast but barely farmed: fertile ground lay fallow, fodder and grain prices rocketed, and the annual cost of purchased grain had become incalculable. Repeated orders had already gone out directing the Jingyuan military commissioner and the archer-supervision office to bring settlers in, break new ground, and build up grain reserves beyond the frontier passes—an inexhaustible source of strength for border defense. Word reached the court, however, that the archer office and the military commissioner were at cross purposes, quarreling over policy instead of coordinating it. Qian Guishan, the Jingyuan archer commissioner, was to be removed from office."
50
大觀三年二月，臣僚言：「自復西寧州，饋給每多，而儲積未廣，買價數增，市物隨踴，地利不辟，兵籍不敷，蓋招置之術失講，勸利之法未興也。 乞委帥臣、監司講求，或募或招，何爲而可足弓箭手之數，以期於不闕； 或拘或誘，何爲而使蕃部著業而責以耕耘。 田既墾則穀自盈，募既充而兵益振，是收班超之功，盡充國之利也。」 詔：「熙、河、洮、岷前後收復，歲月深久，得其地而未得其利，得其民而未得其用。 地利不辟，兵籍不敷，歲仰朝廷供億，非持久之道。 可令詳究本末，條畫來上。」
In the second month of Daguan 3, court officials warned that since Xining's recovery the frontier had consumed ever more supplies while storehouses stayed thin, purchase prices climbed again and again, and markets followed suit. Land remained undeveloped and rolls understrength—not because the region lacked potential, but because no one had seriously worked out how to recruit settlers or make farming pay. They asked that circuit commanders and supervisory commissioners study the problem: by recruitment or summons, what would it take to fill the archer rolls without shortfall? By coercion or incentive, what would bind tribal communities to the land and hold them to the plow? Open the fields and grain would follow; fill the ranks and the army would stiffen—thus reclaiming the frontier triumph of Ban Chao and the agrarian strategy of Zhao Chongguo in full. The throne replied that Xi, He, Tao, and Min had been taken back over many years—yet the empire held the territory without harvesting its wealth, and held the people without putting them to use. Land lay idle, rolls empty, and every year the treasury bore the whole burden of supply—no policy built to endure. Officials were ordered to trace the problem to its roots and submit detailed plans."
51
政和三年，秦鳳路經略安撫使何常奏：
In Zhenghe 3, He Chang, military commissioner and pacification commissioner of the Qin-Feng Circuit, submitted a memorial:
52
自古行師用兵，或騎或步，率因地形。 兵法曰：「蕃兵惟勁馬奔沖，漢兵惟強弩掎角。」 蓋蕃長於馬，漢長於弩也。 今則不然。 西賊有山間部落謂之「步跋子」者，上下山坡，出入溪潤，最能逾高超遠，輕足善走。 有平夏騎兵謂之「鐵鷂子」者，百里而走，千里而期，最能倏往忽來，若電擊雲飛。 每于平原馳騁之處遇敵，則多用鐵鷂子以爲沖冒奔突之兵； 山谷深險之處遇敵，則多用步跋子以爲擊刺掩襲之用。 此西人步騎之長也。 我諸路並塞之民，皆是弓箭手地分，平居以田獵騎射爲能，緩急以追逐馳騁相尚。 又沿邊土兵，習於山川，慣於馳驟。 關東戍卒，多是硬弩手及摽牌手，不惟扞賊勁矢，亦可使賊馬驚潰。 此中國步騎之利也。
Since antiquity, armies have fought on horseback or on foot, as terrain dictates. The manuals say: "Frontier cavalry excel at the thundering charge; Han forces excel at the crossbow pincer." For the frontier peoples were masters of the horse, and the Han masters of the crossbow. That is no longer the case. The Western Xia field a mountain tribe called the Bubazi—men who climb and descend steep slopes, cross streams and ravines, leap heights and cover great distances, swift of foot and tireless runners. They also field Pingxia horsemen called the Iron Hawks, who can ride a hundred li in a day and keep a thousand-li rendezvous, appearing and vanishing like lightning or clouds driven by wind. On open plains suited to a galloping charge, they rely chiefly on the Iron Hawks for assault and breakout. In steep, narrow valleys they deploy the Bubazi for close strikes and ambush. Such were the strengths of the enemy's foot and horse. Along our frontier circuits the inhabitants are enrolled as archers, who in peace hone their skill at hunting and mounted archery and in war pride themselves on the chase and the charge. Frontier native levies know the hills and streams and are hardened to hard riding. The garrison troops of Guandong are chiefly heavy crossbowmen and shield-bearers who not only turn aside the enemy's shafts but can panic and scatter his horses. Such were the strengths of our own foot and horse.
53
至道中，王超、丁罕等討繼遷，是時馬上用弩，遇賊則萬弩齊發，賊不能措手足而遁。 又元豐間，劉昌祚等趨靈州，賊衆守隘，官軍不能進。 於是用牌子爲先鋒，賊下馬臨官軍，其勢甚盛，昌祚等乃以牌子踢跳閃爍，振以響環，賊馬驚潰。 若遇賊于山林險隘之處，先以牌子賊，次以勁弓強弩與神臂弓射賊先鋒，則矢不虛發，而皆穿心達臆矣。 或遇賊于平原廣野之間，則馬上用弩攢射，可以一發而盡殪。 兼牌子與馬上用弩，皆已試之效，不可不講。 前所謂勁馬奔沖，強弩掎角，其利兩得之，而賊之步跋子與鐵鷂子皆不足破也。 又步兵之中，必先擇其魁健材力之卒，皆用斬馬刀，別以一將統之，如唐李嗣業用陌刀法。 遇鐵鷂子衝突，或掠我陣腳，或踐踏我步人，則用斬馬刀以進，是取勝之一奇也。
In the Zhidao era Wang Chao and Ding Han campaigned against Li Jiqian; mounted crossbowmen then loosed ten thousand bolts at once, leaving the enemy no room to move before they fled. During Yuanfeng Liu Changzuo marched on Ling Prefecture but found the enemy holding the passes and blocking the army's advance. Liu deployed shield-bearers as vanguard. The enemy dismounted and pressed the attack with overwhelming force, whereupon Changzuo's men leapt and feinted with their shields, rattling the noise-rings until the enemy horses bolted in panic. In wooded defiles, send shield-men first, then strike the enemy vanguard with powerful bows, heavy crossbows, and Divine Arm crossbows—every shaft finding its mark, piercing heart and breast. On open plains, a volley of mounted crossbow fire could annihilate the enemy in a single discharge. Both shield tactics and mounted crossbows had been proven in battle and deserved the fullest attention. Thus one could gain both the charging horse and the crossbow pincer—and the enemy's Bubazi and Iron Hawks would no longer suffice to break one's line. Among the infantry, select the stoutest and strongest men, arm them with horse-chopping sabers, and place them under a dedicated commander—as Li Siye of Tang had wielded the modao corps. When Iron Hawks broke through—whether skirting the flank or riding down infantry—advancing with horse-chopping sabers was a decisive stratagem.
54
詔樞密院劄與諸路經略司。
The court ordered the Bureau of Military Affairs to circulate the memorial to each circuit pacification commission.
55
四年，詔：「西羌久爲邊患，乍叛乍服，譎詐不常。 頃在先朝，使者在廷，猶或犯境。 今植養積歲，屢饑久困，雖誓表已進，羌夷之性不保其往。 修備禦於無事之時，戒不虞於萃聚之際，正在今日。 可令陝西、河東路帥臣訓練兵伍，除治軍器，繕修樓櫓，收積芻糧，常若寇至。 不可謂已進誓表，輒或弛怠，墮其奸謀。 所有弓箭手、蕃兵，常令優恤，逃亡者可速招補，貧乏者亦令貸借。 將佐偏裨，如或軟懦失職，具名以聞，或寇至失事，並行軍法。」
In the fourth year of the reign an edict declared: "The Western Qiang have long plagued the frontier, rebelling one day and submitting the next, treacherous and unpredictable. Even when their envoys were received at our court under the late emperor, they still raided the border. Though nurtured for years and now weakened by repeated famine, and though they have submitted written oaths, the Qiang and Yi cannot be trusted to keep their word. To prepare defenses in peacetime and guard against sudden attack when they mass their forces—that urgency is now. The commanders of Shaanxi and Hedong were ordered to drill troops, maintain arms, repair towers and stockades, stock fodder and grain, and stand ready as though the enemy were at the gates. Officials must not grow complacent because oaths had been filed, or fall prey to enemy treachery. Archers and tribal auxiliaries were to be well treated: deserters promptly re-enrolled, the destitute granted loans. Commanders found timid or negligent were to be reported by name; any who failed when the enemy came would face military punishment."
56
五年二月，詔：「陝西、河東逐路，自紹聖開拓邊疆以來，及西寧、湟、廓、洮州、積石等處新邊，各有包占良田，併合招置弓箭手，以爲邊防籬落。 至今累年，曠土尚多，應募人數未廣。 蓋緣自罷專置提舉官隸屬經略司，事權不專，頗失措置。 根括打量、催督開墾、理斷交侵等職事，盡在極邊，帥臣無由親到。 即今夏人通貢，邊鄙安靜。 若不乘此委官往來督責，多方招刺弓箭手墾辟閒田，補助邊計，以寬飛輓之勞，竊慮因循浸久，曠土愈多，銷耗民兵人額，有害邊防大計。 兼提舉文臣玩習翰墨，多務安養，罕能沖冒寒暑。 可令陝西、河東逐路，並復置提舉弓箭手司，仍各選差武臣一員充，理任、請給、恩數等並依提舉保甲條例施行。 每路各置幹當公事使臣二員。 仍每歲令樞密院取索逐路招到弓箭手並開墾過地土，比較優劣殿最，取旨黜陟。 合措置事節，所差官條畫以聞。」
In the second month of the fifth year an edict noted that since the Shaosheng frontier expansion, new territories including Xining, Huang, Kuo, Tao, and Jishi had fertile land set aside and archers recruited to serve as a frontier cordon. Yet after many years much land still lay unused and recruitment had fallen short. This owed largely to the abolition of dedicated archer overseers and their subordination to the pacification commissions, which diluted authority and left affairs poorly managed. Surveying, supervising cultivation, and adjudicating land disputes all took place on the remotest frontier, where circuit commanders could not personally oversee the work. The Xia were currently sending tribute and the frontier was calm. Unless officials were now dispatched to recruit archers, open idle land, ease the burden of emergency requisition, and supplement frontier finances, procrastination would leave ever more land fallow, deplete militia quotas, and undermine frontier defense. Moreover the civil overseers had been scholars devoted to comfort and ill suited to hardship in the field. Shaanxi and Hedong were each to restore an Office for Overseeing Archers, staffed by a military officer, with tenure, pay, and perquisites per the baojia regulations. Each circuit would also appoint two commissioners to handle routine business. Each year the Bureau of Military Affairs would review each circuit's archer recruitment and land reclaimed, rank officials by performance, and recommend promotions and demotions. The appointed officials were to submit a detailed plan for implementing these measures."
57
八月，樞密院言：「欲將近裏弓箭手地，但有爭訟侵冒之處，並行打量，庶幾杜絕侵冒之弊。」 從之。 是月，提舉河東路弓箭手司奏：「本司體訪得沿邊州軍逐處招置弓箭手，多將人戶舊用工開耕之地指射剗奪，其舊佃人遂至失業。 且所出租，僅比佃戶五分之一，於公私俱不便。 今欲將系官莊屯田已有人租佃及五年者，並不在招置弓箭手請射之限。 其河東路察訪司初不以邊防民兵爲重，姑息佃戶，致有此弊。 欲乞應熙寧八年以前人戶租佃官田，並先取問佃人，如願投刺弓箭手，每出一丁，許依條給見佃田二頃五十畝充人馬地，若不願充弓箭手，及出丁外尚有請占不盡地土，即拘收入官。」 從之。
In the eighth month the Bureau of Military Affairs proposed surveying all archer lands in the interior districts where disputes or encroachments had arisen, to end abuses of land-grabbing." The court approved. That month the Hedong Office for Overseeing Archers reported that frontier recruitment had often seized long-cultivated tenant farmland, leaving the original tillers destitute. The rent collected was only a fifth of what tenants had paid—harmful to public revenue and private interest alike. Fields on official estates already rented for five years or more were to be excluded from archer land claims. The Hedong inspection commission had neglected frontier militia in favor of indulging tenants, causing the problem. For official fields rented before Xining 8, tenants should first be consulted; those willing to enroll as archers would receive two qing fifty mu of their present holding per man furnished; those refusing, and any surplus land unassigned after enrollment, would revert to the state." The court approved.
58
十一月，邊防司奏：「據提舉熙河蘭湟路弓箭手何灌申：漢人買田常多，比緣打量，其人亦不自安，首陳已及一千餘頃。 若招弓箭手，即可得五百人； 若納租稅，每畝三斗五升、草二束，一歲間亦可得米三萬五千石、草二十萬束。 今相度欲將漢人置買到蕃部土田願爲弓箭手者，兩頃已上刺一名，四頃已上刺兩名。 如願者，依條立定租稅輸納。 其巧爲影占者，重爲禁止。」 從之。
In the eleventh month, the Border Defense Bureau reported that He Guan, intendant of archers for the Xihe, Lanzhou, and Huangshui circuit, stated that Han settlers often buy large tracts of land; recent cadastral surveys had left them uneasy, and more than a thousand qing had already been volunteered. If archers were recruited from this land, five hundred men could be raised at once; If rent and taxes were levied at three dou and five sheng of grain per mu and two bundles of fodder, the circuit could also collect thirty-five thousand shi of grain and two hundred thousand bundles of fodder in a single year. After deliberation, the bureau proposed that Han men who had bought tribal land and wished to serve as archers should be registered at one man for every two qing or more, and two men for every four qing or more. Volunteers would pay rent and taxes at the rates fixed under the regulations. Those who fraudulently concealed or misrepresented holdings would be strictly forbidden. The court approved the proposal.
59
七年三月，詔：「熙、河、鄯、湟自開拓以來，疆土雖廣而地利悉歸屬羌，官兵吏祿仰給縣官，不可爲後計。 仰本路帥臣相度，以錢糧茶彩或以羌人所嗜之物，與之貿易田土。 田土既多，即招置弓箭手，入耕出戰，以固邊圉。」
In the third month of the seventh year, the court issued an edict: since the opening of the Xihe, Shanzhou, and Huangshui region, the frontier had widened yet usable land mostly remained under Qiang control while official pay still came from the state treasury, which could not be sustained as a long-term policy. The circuit commanders were to consider trading money, grain, tea, dyed cloth, or other goods the Qiang desired in exchange for farmland. Once enough land was secured, militia archers would be recruited to farm in peacetime and fight in war, strengthening the frontier.
60
宣和六年七月，詔：「已降處分，陝西昨因地震摧塌屋宇，因而死傷弓箭手，內合承襲人，速具保明聞奏。」
In the seventh month of Xuanhe 6, an edict directed that after the Shaanxi earthquake had destroyed buildings and killed or wounded archers, eligible heirs should be verified and reported at once.
61
靖康元年二月，臣僚言：「陝西恃弓箭手爲國藩籬，舊隸帥府，比年始置提舉弓箭手官，務取數多，自以爲功。 自是選練不精，遂使法制浸壞。 欲乞詳酌，罷提舉官，以弓箭手復隸帥司，務求以振邊聲。」 詔從之，河東路依此。 四月，樞密院奏：「陝西、河東逐路漢弓箭手自來並給肥饒田，近年以來，多將舊人已給田分擘，招刺新人。 蓋緣提舉官貪賞欺蔽，務要數多，妄行招刺，無以激勸。 朝廷近已罷提舉官，今復隸帥司所轄，況當今邊事全藉民兵，若不早計，深慮誤事。」 詔令陝西五路制置使錢蓋及陝西、河東逐路帥臣相度措置，將已分擘弓箭手田土，依舊改正撥還，所有新招到人別行給地，務要均濟。 仍仰帥臣嚴切奉行。 是月，徐處仁又奏，詔並送詳議司。
In the second month of Jingkang 1, officials argued that Shaanxi depended on militia archers as a national bulwark; they had once answered to the military command but lately a dedicated intendant had been appointed who prized head counts over quality. Selection and training thereafter grew slack, and the institution eroded. They asked that the intendant post be abolished and archers returned to commandery control so the frontier's strength could be restored. The court agreed; the Hedong Circuit was ordered to follow the same policy. In the fourth month, the Bureau of Military Affairs reported that Han militia archers in Shaanxi and Hedong had long received fertile allotments, but lately officials had split existing holdings to enroll new recruits. Intendants had sought rewards and inflated numbers by improperly enrolling men without real incentives. The court had just abolished the intendant and restored commandery control; with border defense relying on militia, delay risked serious failure. The court ordered Commissioner Qian Gai of the five Shaanxi circuits and each Shaanxi and Hedong commander to restore subdivided archer lands to their original holders, grant separate plots to new recruits, and ensure equitable treatment. Commanders were ordered to enforce the policy strictly. That month Xu Churen submitted another memorial; both were sent to the Detailed Deliberation Office.
62
熙寧五年，涇原路經略司蔡挺言：「涇原勇敢三百四十四人，久不揀練，徒有虛名。 臣委二將領季一點閱，校其騎射能否升除，補有功者以爲隊長，募極塞博軍子嘗曆戰陣者補其闕。 益募熟戶蕃部以爲蕃勇敢，凡一千三百八十人，騎一千一百九十四匹，挽弓一石，馳逐擊刺如法。 其有功者受勇敢下等奉，餘遇調發，則人給奉三百，益以芻糧。」 詔諸路如挺言行之。
In Xining 5, Cai Ting of the Jingyuan pacification commission reported that 344 Jingyuan Braves had long lacked drill and existed only on paper. He assigned two generals to quarterly inspections, promoting or demoting men by mounted and foot archery skill, appointing meritorious men as squad leaders and recruiting seasoned frontier soldiers to fill vacancies. He also recruited registered tribal households as tribal Braves—1,380 men with 1,194 horses, each drawing a one-shi bow and drilling in mounted charge and thrust. Meritorious men received the lowest Brave stipend; when mobilized, others received three hundred cash each plus fodder. The court ordered every circuit to follow Cai Ting's model.
63
六年，樞密院言：「勇敢效用皆以材武應募從軍，廩食既優，戰馬戎械之具皆出公上，平時又得以家居，以勞效賞者凡四補而至借職，校弓箭手減十資，淹速相遠，甚非朝廷第功均賞之意。 請自今河東、鄜延、秦鳳、環慶、熙河路各以三百，涇原路以五百爲額。 第一等步射弓一石一斗，馬射九斗，奉錢千； 第二等以下遞減一斗，奉七百至五百。 季首閱試于經略司，射親及野戰中者有賞，全不中者削其奉，次季又不中者罷之。 戰有功者以八等定賞：一、給公據，二、以爲隊長，三、守闕軍將，四、軍將，五、殿侍，六、三班借差，七、差使，八、借職。 其弓箭手有功，亦以八等定賞：一、押官，承局； 二、將，虞候，十將； 三、副兵馬使，軍使； 四、副指揮使； 五、都虞候； 六、都指揮使； 七、三班差使； 八、借職。 即以闕排連者次遷。
In Xining 6, the Bureau of Military Affairs noted that Braves enlisted for martial skill, enjoyed generous rations and state-provided horses and arms, and could live at home in peacetime, yet merit could advance them in four steps to provisional rank—ten grades faster than archers—far from equal merit-based reward. They proposed quotas of three hundred Braves each for Hedong, Fuyan, Qinfeng, Huanqing, and Xihe, and five hundred for Jingyuan. First grade required one shi one dou at foot and nine dou mounted, with a stipend of one thousand cash; each lower grade reduced archery by one dou, with stipends from seven hundred to five hundred cash. Seasonal trials at the pacification commission rewarded hits in target or field combat; total misses cut stipends, and two seasons of failure meant dismissal. Eight grades of battle reward were set: official certificate, squad leader, acting army captain, army captain, palace attendant, provisional Third Rank appointment, dispatched service, and provisional rank. Archers with merit had eight grades as well: pressing officer or clerk; (2) captain, orderly, or ten-captain; (3) vice cavalry commissioner or army commissioner; (4) vice commandant; (5) chief orderly; (6) chief commandant; (7) Third Rank dispatched service; (8) provisional rank. Vacancies would be filled in order by the next eligible man.
64
元豐三年，詔涇原路募勇敢如鄜延路，以百人爲額。 自是以後，蕃部益衆，而弓箭手多蕃兵矣。
In the third year of Yuanfeng, Jingyuan was ordered to recruit Braves on the Fuyan model, quota one hundred. Thereafter tribal numbers grew, and militia archers were increasingly tribal soldiers.
65
河北等路弓箭社
Bow-and-Arrow Societies in Hebei and Other Circuits
66
弓箭社河北舊有之。 熙寧三年十二月，知定州滕甫言：「河北州縣近山谷處，民間各有弓箭社及獵射人，習慣便利，與夷人無異。 欲乞下本道逐州縣，並令募諸色公人及城郭鄉村百姓有武勇願習弓箭者，自爲之社。 每歲之春，長吏就閱試之。 北人勁悍，緩急可用。」 從之。
Bow-and-arrow societies had long existed in Hebei. In the twelfth month of Xining 3, Dingzhou prefect Teng Fu noted that in Hebei counties near hills, locals already had bow-and-arrow societies and hunters as skilled as frontier tribesmen. He asked that each county recruit willing clerks and townspeople with martial skill to form their own societies. Each spring the local chief would inspect and test them. Northerners were hardy and could be relied on in crisis. The court approved.
67
元祐八年十一月，知定州蘇軾言：
In the eleventh month of Yuanyou 8, Dingzhou prefect Su Shi memorialized:
68
北邊久和，河朔無事。 沿邊諸郡，軍政少馳，將驕卒惰，緩急恐不可用； 武藝軍裝，皆不逮陝西、河東遠甚。 雖據即目邊防事勢，三五年間必無警急，然居安慮危，有國之常，備事不素講，難以應變。 臣觀祖宗以來，沿邊要害，屯聚重兵，止以壯國威而消敵謀，蓋所謂先聲後實，形格勢禁之道耳。 若進取深入，交鋒兩陣，猶當雜用禁旅。 至於平日保境，備禦小寇，即須專用極邊土人。 此古今不易之論也。
The northern frontier had been peaceful and the Hebei region quiet. Border prefectures had slack discipline, proud officers and idle troops who might fail in crisis; their arms and training lagged far behind Shaanxi and Hedong. Su Shi granted that no crisis seemed likely within a few years, yet nations must prepare in peace; without prior planning, emergencies could not be met. He observed that since the founding era heavy garrisons on key frontiers had served chiefly to overawe enemies by presence—the classic "thunder before rain" strategy of deterrence. Deep offensives and pitched battles still required regular imperial troops. Day-to-day defense against small raids, he argued, must rely on frontier locals alone. That principle, he said, had never changed.
69
晁錯與漢文帝畫備邊策，不過二事：其一曰徙遠方以實空虛，其二曰制邊縣以備敵國。 寶元、慶曆中，趙元昊反，屯兵四十余萬，招刺宣毅、保捷二十五萬人，皆不得其用，卒無成功。 范仲淹、劉{山成}、種世衡等專務整緝蕃漢熟戶、弓箭手，所以封殖其家、砥礪其人者非一道。 藩籬既成，賊來無所得，故元昊復臣。 今河朔西路被邊州軍，自澶淵講和以來，百姓自相團結爲弓箭社，不論家業高下，戶出一人。 又自相推擇家資武藝衆所服者爲社頭、社副、錄事，謂之頭目。 帶弓而鋤，佩劍而樵，出入山阪，飲食長技與敵國同。 私立賞罰，嚴於官府，分番巡邏，鋪屋相望，若透漏北賊及本土強盜不獲，其當番人皆有重罰。 遇其警急，擊鼓，頃刻可致千人。 器甲鞍馬，常若寇至。 蓋親戚墳墓所在，人自爲戰，敵深畏之。 先朝名臣帥定州者韓琦、龐籍，皆加意拊循其人，以爲爪牙耳目之用，而籍又增損其約束賞罰。
Chao Cuo and Emperor Wen had outlined border defense in two moves: relocate outsiders to fill empty districts and organize frontier counties against enemies. When Zhao Yuanhao rebelled in the Baoyuan and Qingli eras, despite 400,000 troops and 250,000 levied militia, nothing availed and the campaign failed. Fan Zhongyan, Liu Yicheng, Zhong Shihang, and others focused on organizing registered tribal households and archers, supporting families and hardening men by many means. Once that bulwark stood, raiders gained nothing and Yuanhao resubmitted. On the Hebei western frontier since the Chanyuan treaty, households had formed bow-and-arrow societies on their own, contributing one man regardless of wealth. They elected respected men of means and skill as head, deputy, and recorder— the "leaders." They farmed with bows slung and cut wood with swords belted, living in the hills with the same skills and diet as the enemy. Private discipline exceeded official law; shift patrols linked watch posts, and failure to catch northern raiders or local bandits brought heavy punishment on the duty rotation. At alarm, drumbeats could muster a thousand men within moments. Armor, saddles, and horses were kept battle-ready. With kin and graves at stake, men fought for themselves and enemies feared them deeply. Former Dingzhou commanders Han Qi and Pang Ji had carefully governed and comforted them as local eyes and ears; Pang Ji had also adjusted their rules of reward and punishment.
70
熙寧六年，行保甲法，強壯、弓箭社並行廢罷。 熙甯七年，應兩地供輸人戶，除元有弓箭社、強壯並義勇之類並依舊存留外，更不編排保甲。 看詳上件兩次聖旨，除兩地供輸村分方許依舊置弓箭社，其餘併合廢罷。 雖有上件指揮，公私相承，元不廢罷，只是令弓箭社兩丁以上人戶兼充保甲，以至逐捕本界及他盜賊，並皆驅使弓箭社人戶用命捉殺。 見今州縣，全藉此等寅夜防拓，灼見弓箭社實爲邊防要用，其勢決不可廢。 但以兼充保甲之故，召集追呼，勞費失業，今雖名目俱存，責其實用，不逮往日。
In Xining 6 the baojia system was imposed and strong-men and bow-and-arrow societies were abolished together. In Xining 7 dual-supply households kept existing societies, strong men, and yiyong units but were not reorganized into baojia. Review of those orders showed only dual-supply villages might keep societies; all others should have been abolished. In practice societies were never abolished; multi-male households simply doubled as baojia, and counties drove bow-and-arrow households to hunt bandits. Counties now relied on them for night patrol; bow-and-arrow societies were plainly vital to border defense and could not be abolished. Yet dual service as baojia wasted time and livelihood; though the institutions survived, their practical value had declined.
71
臣竊謂陝西、河東弓箭手，官給良田，以備甲馬。 今河朔沿邊弓箭社，皆是人戶祖業田產，官無絲毫之損，而捐軀捍邊，器甲鞍馬與陝西、河東無異，苦樂相遠，未盡其用。 近日霸州文安縣及真定府北砦，皆有北賊驚劫人戶，捕盜官吏拱手相視，無如之何，以驗禁軍、弓手皆不得力。 向使州縣逐處皆有弓箭社，人戶致命盡力，則北賊豈敢輕犯邊砦，如入無人之境？ 臣已戒飭本路將吏，申嚴賞罰，加意拊循其人，輒復拾用龐籍舊奏約束，稍加增損，別立條目。 欲乞朝廷立法，少賜優異，明設賞罰，以示懲勸。 今已密切取會到本路極邊定、保兩州、安肅、廣信、順安三軍邊面七縣一砦內管自來團結弓箭社五百八十八社，六百五十一火，共計三萬一千四百一十一人。 若朝廷以爲可行，立法之後，更敕將吏常加拊循，使三萬餘人分番晝夜巡邏，盜邊小寇來即擒獲，不至狃忄犬以生戎心。 而事皆循舊，無所改作，敵不疑畏，無由生事，有利無害，較然可見。
Shaanxi and Hedong archers received official land for arms and horses, he noted. Hebei societies used hereditary land at no cost to the state yet defended the border with the same gear as Shaanxi and Hedong; unequal hardship left their strength underused. Recent raids in Wen'an, Bazhou, and Zhending's northern fort had left officials helpless, showing regular troops and archers were ineffective. If every county had active societies willing to die in defense, northern raiders would not stroll through border forts unopposed. He had admonished local officers to enforce rewards and punishments and govern and comfort the people carefully, reviving Pang Ji's old rules with revisions in separate articles. He asked the court to legislate modest privileges and clear rewards and punishments as encouragement. He had ascertained that on the frontier of Ding and Bao, three commands, seven counties, and one fort there were 588 societies, 651 household units, totaling 31,411 men. If approved, officers should constantly govern and comfort them so 30,000 men patrolled in shifts, catching small raiders immediately and not letting habit embolden enemies. Routine would continue unchanged; enemies would neither suspect nor be provoked—clear benefit without harm.
72
奏凡兩上，皆不報。
He submitted twice; neither memorial was answered.
73
政和六年，詔：「河北路有弓箭社縣分，已令解發異等。 其逐路縣令佐，俟歲終教閱異等，帥司具優劣之最，各取旨賞罰，以爲勸沮。 仍具爲令。」 又高陽關路安撫司言：「大觀三年弓箭社人依《保甲法》、《政和保甲格》較最優劣，縣令各減展磨勘年有差。」 詔依《保甲格》賞罰施行。
In Zhenghe 6 an edict stated that in Hebei counties with bow-and-arrow societies, top performers were to be reported upward. County magistrates were to hold year-end drills; commanderies would report best and worst for imperial reward and punishment. The rules were also to be codified. The Gaoyang Pass pacification commission noted that in Daguan 3 society members were ranked under the Baojia Law and Zhenghe regulations, reducing magistrates' merit-review years by varying degrees. The court ordered rewards and punishments under the baojia regulations.
74
宣和七年二月，臣僚言：
In the second month of Xuanhe 7, officials memorialized:
75
往年西路提刑梁揚祖奏請勸誘民戶充弓箭社，繼下東路令仿西路例招誘。 原立法之意，不過使鄉民自願入社者閱習武備，爲禦賊之具爾。 奈何邀功生事之人，唯以入社之民衆多爲功，厚誣朝廷而斂怨於民，督責州縣急於星火，取五等之籍甲乙而次之，家至戶到，追胥迫脅。 悉驅之入社，更無免者。 法始行于西路，西路既已冒受厚賞，於是東路憲司前後論列，誕謾滋甚。 近者東路之奏，數至二十四萬一千七百人，武藝優長者一十一萬六千，且雲比之西路僅多一倍。 陛下灼知其不然，雖命帥臣與廉訪使者核實，彼安肯以實聞乎？ 今東路憲司官屬與登、淄兩州當職官，坐增秩者幾二十人，而縣令、佐不及焉。 不知出入阡陌間勸誘者誰歟？ 此其誕謾可知矣。 審如所奏，山東之寇，何累月淹時未見殄減哉？ 則其所奏二十四萬與十一萬，殆虛有名，不足以捍賊明矣！ 大抵因緣追擾，民不堪其勞，則老弱轉徙道路，強壯起爲盜賊，此亦致寇之一端也。
Western Circuit intendant Liang Yangzu had urged households into societies; the Eastern Circuit was then ordered to follow suit. The law had meant only voluntary members would drill for self-defense. Merit-seekers counted enrollments as achievement, deceiving the court and angering the people, pressing counties urgently, ranking fifth-class household registers house by house with coercive runners. All were driven into societies without exception. The Western Circuit had already received lavish rewards; Eastern surveillance memorials grew ever more inflated. The Eastern Circuit lately reported 241,700 men and 116,000 skilled fighters—claiming only double the west. The emperor knew this was false; though ordered to verify, commanders and inspectors would hardly report truthfully. Nearly twenty Eastern Circuit surveillance staff and incumbent officers in Deng and Zi prefectures had already received rank promotions for this work, while county magistrates and assistants had not. Who, then, was actually walking the lanes to recruit them? The exaggeration was obvious. If the numbers were real, why had Shandong bandits not been suppressed after many months? The claimed 241,000 and 116,000 were largely fictitious and clearly could not fight bandits. Endless harassment drove the people to exhaustion: the old and weak fled on the roads and the strong turned bandit—another way the policy bred outlaws.
76
近者仰煩陛下遣將出師，授以方略，又命近臣持詔撫諭，至於發內庫之藏，轉淮甸之粟以振給之，寬免其稅租，蕩宥其罪戾，丁寧纖悉，罔不曲盡。 方將歸伏田畝，以爲遷善遠罪之民，詎可以其所甚病擾之邪？ 且私有兵器，在律之禁甚嚴。 三路保伍之法，雖于農隙以講武事，然猶事畢則兵器藏於官府。 今弓箭社一切兵器，民皆自藏於家，不幾於借寇哉？ 望陛下斷自聖心，罷京東弓箭社之名，所藏兵器悉送之官，使民得免非時追呼迫脅之擾，以安其生。 應兩路緣弓箭社推恩者並追奪改正，首議之人重賜黜責，後爲奏請誕謾，亦乞特賜施行，庶幾群下悚懼，不敢妄進曲說，以肆其奸，實今日之先務也。
Recently the emperor had sent generals with plans, dispatched close ministers with reassuring edicts, opened the inner treasury, moved Huai grain for relief, waived taxes, and pardoned crimes—every care taken. Just as people were returning to their fields to reform, how could they be tormented with what they feared most? Private arms were strictly forbidden by law. Under the three-circuit baowu system, drill occurred in farming slack seasons and weapons were then stored in government offices. Now bow-and-arrow society weapons stayed in private homes—was that not arming bandits? He asked the emperor to abolish Jingdong bow-and-arrow societies, confiscate all weapons, and spare the people untimely summons and coercion. Promotions granted in both circuits for society work should be revoked, initiators punished, and later fabricators penalized so officials would fear to lie—an urgent priority.
77
詔並依奏，梁揚祖落職，兵器並拘入官，弓箭社人依已降指揮放散。
The court accepted the memorial: Liang Yangzu was dismissed, weapons confiscated, and society members dispersed under existing orders.