The so-called archers were first developed during the Zhenzong period by General Cao Wei, who imitated a militia border guarding policy that already existed in the Later Zhou Dynasty and improved it.
Its core is to recruit young Han and Tibetan people on both sides of the border, give each household two hectares of land, and order them to work as farmers in peacetime, train in leisure time, and go on expeditions in wartime. In fact, it is a variant of the government army system.
However, in order to strengthen the determination and fighting will of the archers to defend the border, Cao Wei applied for special preferential treatment - permanently exempting him from rent.
Sure enough, it greatly improved the combat capabilities of archers and made many people willing to become archers.
However, soon, as financial pressure increased, tax archers appeared in order to save money.
In other words, in addition to allocating land, archers still have to pay taxes like households.
This greatly dampened the enthusiasm of the border archers.
Therefore, in the Qingli era, when Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi were guarding the border, they simply incorporated all these old archers into the Forbidden Army.
After the Xining Reform, as the war progressed, in order to increase the enthusiasm of the military and civilians along the border for combat, the archer system was restored.
It was also changed to the archer camp system, adopting Cao Wei's suggestion in the past. In addition to being given two hectares of land for people and fifty acres for horses, the archer applicants were also exempted from summer and autumn taxes and free payment.
At the same time, these archers were organized, trained, and organized according to the command, imitating the military system of the Forbidden Army.
This greatly improves the combat capabilities and enthusiasm of archers along the edge.
Archers therefore became the most effective supplementary method for the Western Army of the Song Dynasty!
It is also the source of the elite of the Western Army!
However, Hedong is different from Shaanxi. There is very little wasteland and even less land to be cultivated.
Before Lu Huiqing took office, the number of archers in Hedong had not increased. This was also the reason why the combat capability of the Hedong Army had not increased.
After Lu Huiqing took office, this problem was solved!
How to solve it?
Too much money is wasted!
After Lu Huiqing took office in Hedong, he directly applied to Bianjing to restore the Xining seven-year land purchase and recruitment law in Hedong.
Use the leftover money from Hedong's free service money to buy land from the people in Hedong, then lease it back to these people and exempt them from the two taxes.
The conditions are: voluntarily recruit as an archer.
As a result, the number of archers in Hedong has greatly increased, and the combat capabilities of the generals in Hedong have also been greatly improved!
At this point in time, the combat power of the Hedong Army has actually caught up with the combat power of the Yanyan Road.
There just wasn't a big fight, so there was no chance to show it.
In addition, let’s talk quietly. In the second year of Yuanyou, after Su Shi wrote the edict to reprimand Lu Huiqing, he proposed to restore Lu Huiqing’s land purchase and recruitment law to strengthen border defense, and it was passed...
Therefore, Su Dabeard is really from the chaotic and lawful camp!
