Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part III: Paying for It

The scoop

How do pre-modern states actually afford to feed, equip, and pay armies without modern currency systems? Medieval and ancient rulers solved this largely through redistribution economies, where centralized authority directly moved agricultural surplus from subsistence farmers to support specialized non-subsistence workers like soldiers and craftspeople, rather than relying on monetized payment systems. The piece explores how states extract labor and resources from agrarian economies to fund military costs.