The Song court experimented with the baojia militia system to reduce the crushing cost of its professional army. Units followed local social hierarchies, performed policing and tax duties, and could cost only a fraction of a regular soldier. Local forces sometimes communicated better between officers and men and produced effective Southern Song formations. Yet the same cohesion could give landowners or commanders an independent regional base, recreating the warlord problem that centralization was designed to prevent.
Chapter · 2:20:13-2:24:24
Song militias saved money but revived the danger of local power
Compare the Song professional army with cheaper community militias whose local ties improved cohesion but worried the court.