A special force in the Sixteen Kingdoms period was the "living army" composed of residents.

From the words "begging" and "living", we can read the misery and misfortune of all refugees in that era. The emergence and existence of the begging army fully witnessed the sadness during the period of great historical turmoil. During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, such a special army was active in the northern battlefield. It is special because it is a special product of this particular historical period. The dream cube of the army is neither officially recruited nor spontaneous by the people, but has both official and folk characteristics. It is a collective refugee organized by the government, and it is the team with the strongest unity, the widest range of activities and the longest duration among the refugees.

Begging is begging for life. In order to solve the most basic food and survival problems, the living soldiers wander around and fight bloody battles, and their footprints are all over the country. Its formation stems from the tide of refugees. There were refugees in China in different degrees in past dynasties. People can't live because of war or famine, so they migrate in groups. Immigration is different from immigration. Immigrants will settle down and have a final destination. Unlike immigrants, immigrants are officially organized immigrants. However, refugees are more loose in form, often have no fixed address and are in a state of mobility most of the time.

During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, refugees were common. Years of war in the north, coupled with plague and natural disasters, have seriously challenged people's basic survival. For example, in the second year of Emperor Yonghui's Yongxing, "there were frequent famines and epidemics in Ningzhou, and hundreds of thousands of people died", so that "the city ran out of food, rats and grass", and the degree of famine could be imagined; Yongjia four years, "Youzhou, Hehe, Si, Ji, Qin, Yong locusts, grass, cattle and horses to eat." Yongjia six years, "Youzhou floods, people have no food." It looks terrible, too

There are too many such examples. Hunger is enough to make people break down and do anything incredible. Many areas have human tragedies such as "easy eating" and "cannibalism". Natural disasters are inevitable and man-made disasters occur frequently. Take Bingzhou as an example. At that time, "bandits and thieves were everywhere and the roads were impassable." There are bandits and soldiers everywhere, and there is no sense of security at all. The environment is "the temple burned down and the city was depressed", just like a hell on earth. Threatened, people had to move around looking for a peaceful shelter.

However, in troubled times, peace can only be relative. Even a "paradise" like Guo is not enough to accommodate all the people in the world, and most people still live in exile. Things always complement each other. Chaos arose in chaos, and refugees disturbed the world, forming a vicious circle, which also formed a prominent social problem in this period. Both the imperial court and the local government have tried to solve the problem, and they have tried many ways to either move the refugees back to their original places or organize resettlement. But there are so many refugees in troubled times that it is very difficult to send them away. Moreover, it is difficult to put resettlement measures in place, especially the influx of ethnic minorities into the Central Plains. The local regime is still in jeopardy and there is no time to take care of refugees. Therefore, the number and scope of refugees at that time reached an unprecedented level.

Wherever people go, they are bound to be excluded, because there is a lack of food everywhere, so there are conflicts everywhere. For example, "thousands of refugees from Si, Ji, He and Yanzhou live in western Liaoning, attracting each other and making people uneasy at their posts", "tens of thousands of refugees from Yingchuan, Xiang, Runan, Nanyang and Henan burned the city". It is a true portrayal of the situation at that time.

In order to prevent refugees from looting, various localities have organized armed defense. When the refugees were attacked, they had to defend themselves, and gradually they spontaneously formed their own armed forces. For example, "Wang Ru, Hou Tuo, Yan Yi, etc. A group of refugees, such as Zhang Ping and Fan Jacob, who started fighting in the Jianghuai area from Yongzhou, gathered thousands of people as dock owners, as well as Deng Ding and others. Hanzhong was captured from Qin Zhou, and part of it was looted by the tiger's mouth. " Famine is so chaotic that "counties can't protect themselves." In desperation, state generals Tian Zhen, Liu Yun, Bosheng, etc. Organize refugees, "learn from Gucheng, Yu Xiu, Jizhou, in the name of begging", and follow Sima Teng to Jizhou to beg for food. This team is called begging army. They have at least two advantages in doing so: first, they will compile refugees so that these people can rely on them; Second, it has formed a powerful armed force and is easy to feed. Without property and shelter, they had to beg for food for a living. Such troops have no worries about fighting, are very brave and powerful, and have become an important military force under Sima Teng. The main battle of the begging army is basically with Xerox.

During the Eight Chaos, Sima Teng defended the capital and attacked Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu. After Sima Ying's death, Schleswig and Schleswig were both under the command of Schleswig, and Schleswig has not made a fortune so far. ) Revenge for Sima Ying, seize its capital, kill Sima Teng and burn the city. Beggars, led by Tian Zhen, Lantian and others, avenged Sima Teng in Leling and killed Sanchi.

Later, due to political differences, the begging army split: some of them, led by Liu Yun and Bo Sheng, took refuge in Sima Yue, the king of the East China Sea. After Sima Yue's death, the whole army was scattered, and Liu Yun led the begging army to flee to the granary. After many battles with Schleswig's army, Schleswig suffered a lot, such as "Schleswig defeated Wang Ping in Liangcheng". Another begging army led by Tian Zhen was far superior to the Party, and paid a huge price for it. Among them, Chen Wu surrendered to Xerox, then rebelled against Xerox and went south to Jianghuai to take refuge in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

This "special force", which was active in the ancient battlefield of China, survived for more than a hundred years, and its footprint spread all over the country, becoming a special case of armed refugees during the Sixteen Countries Period. For food, life and self-protection, they had to get involved in the war, which also showed the hardship and helplessness of the refugees at that time. From the words "begging" and "living", we can read the misery and misfortune of all refugees in that era. The emergence and existence of the begging army fully witnessed the sadness during the period of great historical turmoil.