Inside the Central Army Camp.
"From this day forward, grain allowances for Central Army officers and soldiers of every rank will increase by twenty percent!"
"Daily rations for Border Army officers and soldiers will be increased!"
Cao Mao stood on high as the Delivering Orders Soldiers loudly read out the newly finalized policies.
Great Wei's armed forces fell into two categories. Some people believed that military pay only began in the Tang dynasty, and that armies before the Tang received no income at all. This was incorrect.
Military systems changed throughout every dynasty. In the Qin State, soldiers were forcibly conscripted, and commoners had to bring their own food and weapons to war. Great Han retained this practice: the entire populace supplied soldiers, service was compulsory, and every adult male had to serve.
By the Wei-Jin period, however, two forms of military service had emerged.
The first was the hereditary military service system, which also formed the basis of Great Wei's Border Army. These men were soldiers for generations: you served, your children served, and your entire family belonged to a military household. You did not need to pursue any other occupation; you only had to concentrate on fighting. Through this method, Cao Wei ensured ample manpower in every theater of war, without having to worry that losing tens of thousands would leave no one available.
These men received no grain pay. The imperial court merely fed them and kept them from starving to death. They labored for the court, and the court kept them alive. That was all.
The second was the recruitment system, which applied to most of Cao Wei's Central Army. This was not a product of the Tang dynasty; its earliest origins could be traced to the Warring States period, when Wei selected the strongest men