Song Dynasty carried out the policy of civil service. Even a famous star like Di Qing has tattoos on his face. Where's Yue Fei?
First of all, we need to understand why we want to tattoo words. When did this rule begin? Soldiers' tattoos began in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. The first person to use tattoos was Zhu Wen, the ancestor of the Back Beam. At that time, the times were chaotic, and basically everyone in the army brought it directly. Few people really want to fight him for life, and it is common to fight several times. So in that era of poor medical conditions, playing too much meant death, and everyone certainly hoped or would have many escape incidents, which required a sign to identify him as a soldier.
In order to curb this phenomenon, Zhu Wen tattooed the soldier's face to show his identification. If someone runs away, they can immediately see the words tattooed on their faces, leaving them nowhere to hide. When they see the tattooed words, they can take them back directly, so there is no chance to escape. Later, the army found that this greatly reduced the number of people fleeing, and it was used throughout the ages until the Yuan Dynasty.
The emperor's imperial army certainly doesn't need tattoos. Xiang Army is a local army, with a mixed bag of good and evil people, low status and treatment, and also engaged in labor production. Such an army must get tattoos. Yue Fei joined the army four times in his life, and the second time he joined the local army in his hometown. It is a kind of Xiang army, so he must get a tattoo.
Wang Yan, a former comrade-in-arms of Yue Fei, is the leader of the famous "Eight-character Army". They are all tattooed on the face, which makes people feel a little "bad".