The Three Kingdoms period belonged to the chaotic world, including the division of the Han Dynasty before the Three Kingdoms, which also belonged to the chaotic world. As long as it is a chaotic world, it is necessary to fight a war, and fighting a war must be inseparable from people, and when there are people to fight, they cannot be allowed to act at will, and they must also be controlled, so this leads to different military systems and establishments.
For the Three Kingdoms at that time, the three different forces of Wei Shu and Wu had different policies and systems for their own countries, and the love and killing of the State of Wei and the State of Shu was actually essentially the conflict of the previous Qin and Han dynasties.
We will even find that the Northern Expedition of the Shu State and the defense of the State of Wei, the military measures they carried out are very similar, in fact, under normal logic, the normal military establishment of the Northern Central Plains Dynasty, such as Cao Wei likes to engage in military tuns, and the Shu State also likes to engage in military tuns, although there are slight differences between the two, but the overall difference is not large.
And because the monarchs could not guarantee combat effectiveness, both the Wei and Shu states adopted a conscription system, and these armies on both sides often broke out into wars at the junction of Wei and Shu. (As an aside, although wars often break out, most of the time, the Wei army will be defeated by the Shu army, of course, it is actually a small defeat, which is entirely dependent on Zhuge Liang's great talent and strategy, but also on the early Shu state.) )
Wei and Shu are too similar in these levels, and in this article we will no longer compare the two popularities of Wei and Shu, and change Shu to Wu, because the military systems of Eastern Wu and Cao Wei are completely different.
Wu
We all know that the Wei army is very strong in combat, as evidenced by the fact that Sun Quan, who was fought by Zhang Liao's 800 Wei army (Xiaoyaojin warriors) in the Battle of Hefei, and the 100,000 Eastern Wu troops he brought over were clear evidence. Although there have always been doubts about the authenticity of this war, it is impossible to see a situation in which 800 people can crush 100,000 people. But if you understand the special military system of Eastern Wu, you may immediately understand that such a situation is possible, and it is extremely possible.
It is ironic to say that we will find that the presence of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms is the country with the weakest sense of existence in the Three Kingdoms. Although the Sun family was more active in the early days of the great chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, the more we will find that Eastern Wu is becoming more and more xenophobic and inactive, and his real combat achievements are often defensive, and when it comes to attacking, it is often unbearable.
When it comes to the famous examples of Eastern Wu, we will find that all of them are defensive. Once it comes to the combat effectiveness of a defensive battle against an alien invasion, there are several steps immediately. But once the army was taken out of Eastern Wu territory and wanted to launch an aggressive offensive, something interesting would happen immediately - Hefei claimed to be Sun Quan's lifelong enemy.
Sun Quan was even given the humiliating title of Sun 100,000 because of the war in Hefei. So why is it also a war? The difference in the level of performance of the Eastern Wu army is not complicated - because of the special military establishment of Eastern Wu, or the military system of Eastern Wu.
Cao Wei exercised a conscription system, while Eastern Wu exercised a system of divisions, and although these systems were different, they were all for a common goal, that is, to be able to strengthen their own army. The biggest difference between the two army systems is also obvious, for the Wu state, their army system is more suitable for defense, while Cao Wei's army system tends to invade.
The biggest feature of the Eastern Wu clan system is the dispersion of military strength, as well as hereditary rights, which can be seen that every time there is a war with the Shu state or for the country, there will be different surnames of the flag, in fact, this kind of doing has advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage is obvious, that is, it is to form a sharp contrast internally, which can promote the situation of mutual competition, so that the army can be stronger, the overall strength is also rising, at the same time, such an army has also formed a mutual supervision role with each other, of course, can also check each other.
However, there are also many shortcomings, the biggest drawback is that the strength is too dispersed, there are also relatively large problems in mobilization, at the same time, if there is a problem in their own army, not only will they be implicated, but even their own families will be hurt. Moreover, because the tribes of Eastern Wu can be inherited hereditary, it is only natural that in the period of national peace, these families with armies have used their military strength to do wrongdoing, conniving at their own family members to act recklessly, and even not paying attention to their own country, which also lays the foundation for the stability of the country's society.
We will find that eastern Wu continued to have the appearance of powerful officials after Sun Quan's death, using their own power to control the central government. Therefore, although the later State of Wu showed that all the great clans seemed to be stable and the country was also stable, there was an inevitable surge in the dark.
This is actually the reason why the State of Wu was later annihilated in one fell swoop, because each of the great clans was thinking about their own interests and ignoring their own country, unless they faced the invasion of foreign enemies that could overthrow all their major clans, and in the case of harming their interests, they would try to unite and join forces to resist the enemy.
If these so-called surname armies formed under this military system are desperately resisted when the country is facing danger, they will definitely not be for the sake of the country, but because after the country is destroyed, it will hurt its own interests. Needless to say, such an army management system will certainly not last long, and there will be many problems.
Wei
As mentioned earlier, Cao Wei was practicing a conscription system at that time, and there were two kinds of armies in the military camp under the conscription system, one was the Chinese army and the other was the foreign army. Although the two armies performed their respective duties, they looked down on each other and formed a situation of restraint.
The Chinese army, as the name suggests, is actually an army that keeps the heart of the country, in addition to defending their own capital, but also protecting the owners of their own country, a bit like the Janissaries after that. In the State of Wei at that time, the number of Chinese troops was also considerable, because they also had to serve as the last counterattack capability of the entire country, that is, when the country finally came to its survival, the Chinese army had to go all out to deal with it.
And foreign troops, mainly foreign combat armies, these armies act as big forwards, are the country's sword, but also the guarantee of national security, but for foreign troops, their danger level is much higher than that of the Chinese army, and there may be danger to their lives at any time.
In fact, for Cao Wei at that time, the conscription system was their best way to recruit soldiers, because at that time, Cao Ying, after years of conquest, the number of soldiers in the military land gradually decreased, resulting in no one cultivating the good land, and leading the soldiers to fight not only needed food, but also needed people, which became Cao Wei's greatest suffering.
Cao Wei could only implement the conscription system, as long as he came to join the army, he could get rich treatment, and he could also choose to join the Chinese army or the foreign army, and the treatment of the foreign army was definitely higher than that of the Chinese army, but no matter what, as long as he was a member of the army, he had to face the possibility of fighting, so it did not matter what kind of army.
Although the implementation of the conscription system has essentially changed the shortage of soldiers and promoted the long-term and effective development of the army, it has also led to population instability, everyone has to join the army, and everyone may lose the right to choose other occupations.
But in fact, for the State of Wei at that time, this did have a tactical effect, and for a long time, the State of Wei was indeed the strongest of the three kingdoms.
summary
Whether it is the tribal system of the State of Wu or the conscription system of the State of Wei, both have their own advantages and disadvantages. And in fact, to a certain extent, their respective military systems determine the nature of their armies.
For example, the Wu state's tribal system, because the surname army in the army is concerned with their own interests, only when their own interests are threatened, they try their best, which also leads to the Factu state has always been based on a defensive posture in the three kingdoms in essence, and the defensive war is still mostly based on victory, and the offensive war ends in defeat, one of the important reasons is because the surname army under the part system is working harder at this time.