Friends who are familiar with Chinese history know that due to various reasons, the combat effectiveness of the officers and armies of successive dynasties was very large, but there were four recognized strong armies: the Qin army that attacked and destroyed the Six Kingdoms in the last years of the Warring States; the Han army that Wudi Dynasty repeatedly attacked the north of the desert and repeatedly defeated the Xiongnu; the Tang army that destroyed the Eastern Turks and expeditioned to Central Asia; and the Yuan army that swept through Eurasia and successfully entered the Central Plains.
The author believes that the armies of the above four dynasties, on the comprehensive strength, the strongest is the Tang army, there is no one!
Whether it is the current era of hot weapons or the previous era of cold weapons, the combat effectiveness of the army is determined by the following five factors: first, the quality of soldiers and officers; second, the level of equipment of the army; third, the training level of the army; fourth, the organization and command system of the army; and fifth, the logistical support capability of the army.
Looking at China's military system throughout the ages, the quality of soldiers and officers in the army is in a long-term decline channel: the main force of the army in the Spring and Autumn Period was the nobility, and the quality was the highest; the conscription system was widely implemented in the Warring States, and the main force became a self-cultivating peasant; the Han Dynasty quickly evolved from a conscription system to a conscription system; the Tang Dynasty briefly restored the conscription system (prefectural military system); the Song Dynasty became a conscription system, and the Yuan Ming turned conscription into a hereditary military household, and by the time of the Qing Dynasty, a consensus of "good people should not be soldiers" had been formed. The quality of soldiers and officers was reduced directly to the floor.
Noble soldiers have the highest quality, but the number is limited, can not adapt to the big rules of war, has no comparative analysis value, so the author focuses on the self-cultivating peasants of the conscription dynasty. Due to the needs of their own production and operation activities, the self-employed farmers have to deal with a variety of agricultural tools, calculate the number of seeds, livestock, and labor, and also observe the weather, the solar terms, and deal with disputes within the family, the family, the clan and even the village, which are excellent exercises for their physical and mental strength. In addition, since the farmer is an individual with personal property, rather than dependent on others, he carries an innate sense of self-esteem and honor. Although the nomadic herders also have basic similar qualities to the self-cultivating farmers, the characteristics of living by water and grass make them accustomed to giving up, and the self-cultivated farmers will not give up until they have to, so they have a very big advantage in stoicism and resilience.
From the above discussion and comparison, it is not difficult to see that the only one who can compare with the Tang army in terms of the quality of soldiers and officers is the Qin army.
Next, look at the equipment level of the army: the qin army's world-famous weapon is the crossbow, the Han Dynasty's well-known weapon is the ring head knife, while the Tang Dynasty has the Tang sword and the Mingguang armor, and the Yuan army is a composite bow. It is not difficult to see that the Tang army not only has a sharp weapon for attack, but also a good protective gear, and has both offensive and defensive weapons.
Look at the training level of the army: during the Warring States period, due to low productivity, basically all countries naturally chose to train and fight in the agricultural and leisure season, with the main purpose of not affecting agricultural production, the Han Dynasty was recruiting, not producing, special training, but the number of standing troops was far from enough, especially in the WuDi Dynasty, always in a hurry to raise troops before deciding on the Xiongnu War, the training of the army was seriously insufficient, fortunately, Emperor Wu had a good order, encountered several unborn generals, and waited until the Eastern Han Dynasty. The proportion of foreign cavalry among the recruited soldiers became higher and higher, and the pure Han army became auxiliary.
The Tang Dynasty was very different, clearly stipulating that the soldiers in various places should not only combine cultivation and war, but also require that they take turns to go to the Beijing Division to be responsible for defense (Shangfan), and decide the time interval and cycle of rotation according to the distance between the garrison and Chang'an, so as to maintain the continuity of training in this way.
Fourth, the army's organizational structure and command system. Compared with the modern army, the establishment of the ancient army was not particularly reasonable, and the difference between the four strong armies was not too big, but the formation and command system of the Tang army had a unique ability to check and balance each other -- the jurisdiction of the prefectural soldiers in various places was in the hands of the civilian head and the prime minister; the garrison and yulin army guarding the Beijing division and the imperial palace were commanded by the military generals trusted by the emperor; although the prefectural soldiers were under the jurisdiction of the Folding Chong Province, when transferring troops, they must also check the edict and fish symbols together with the local officials.
Finally, the logistical support of the army. Due to the lack of information in this regard, it can only be deduced from the achievements of the army's expeditions: the commander of the Qin army, "Mengtian but the Xiongnu more than 700 miles" and the expedition to Lingnan, can be regarded as the farthest distance for the Qin army to attack; the Han Dynasty's Huo went to the disease "sealed the wolf juxu mountain, Zen YuGuyan, and climbed the Han Sea." According to research, the farthest "HanHai" should be Lake Baikal in Russia. The Tang army Gao Xianzhi fought against the Arab Legion in What is now Uzbekistan. The Mongol army was defeated by the Mamluks in close proximity to Egypt. Therefore, it is not difficult to see that the logistical support ability of the Tang army is not weaker than that of the Mongol army, you know, because the Tang army is a mixture of infantry and horsemen, the difficulty of logistical support is higher than that of the Pure Cavalry Mongol Army.
In summary, the Tang Dynasty army in its heyday was definitely the strongest army in the era of cold weapons, and even if you look at the world, only the army of the Roman Empire era can compare with it.