北宋涇原路弓箭手之建立

Establishment of Archers in Northern Song Jingyuan Road

在北宋一代史料中，常見朝臣對於弓箭手戰力之高度評價與肯定其功能。弓箭手是北宋鄉兵之一，由政府授田招募，其任務為協助禁軍戍邊與出征。弓箭手主要分布於北宋陝西地區，尤以涇原路數量為最盛。涇原路北與西夏接壤，地理形勢易攻難守，故一向是宋夏衝突頻繁之地。本文由分析北宋一代，弓箭手在涇原路建置之時間與地點隨著宋夏關係的演變而發展，以論證弓箭手於北宋邊防上正如時人之所論，能充分發揮其防禦邊境之功能。

In historical materials of the Northern Song, it is common to see ministers give high acclaim to the fighting ability of archers and affirm their function. Archers are militia members in the Northern Song, and were given farms and drafted by the government. Their mission was to aid the imperial army in border defense and fighting. Archers were mainly distributed in Shaanxi in Northern Song, and most numerous at the Jingyuan Road. Jingyuan Road was connected to Western Xia to the north, where the topography was easy to attack and difficult to defend, thus it had always been an area of frequent Song-Xia conflict. This paper analyzes the period of Northern Song, during which archers were stationed at Jingyuan Road, and development of the location with changes in Song-Xia relationships, in order to determine whether as stated by their contemporaries, archers could fully realize their function of border defense in the Northern Song.