During the Spring and Autumn Period, the use of troops was often only tens of thousands in major wars, and in the Warring States, the scale of combat was greatly expanded, and the confrontation between the nations and hundreds of thousands of troops was a common thing.
The change in the size of the army is not only the increase in the number of troops that can be mobilized by the vast number of people in various countries after the annexation of the princes. It was also due to the change in the war situation, that is, the conquest led by the former nobles, which became a national war in which the militia participated.
The Warring States Policy says: "If Han Wei defeats Qin in battle, his troops will be half-folded, and the four will not defend; if they are not victorious in battle, the country will be followed by danger." ”
It can be seen from this that the militia that was originally responsible for defending the territory has been responsible for accompanying the army to fight. Therefore, the loss of soldiers in the war will increase the pressure of defending the national territory, and the famous Battle of Changping is a representative example.
However, after 450,000 Zhao soldiers were killed in the Battle of Changping, the Zhao people still used the remaining strength to repel the Qin soldiers at Handan. It can be seen that zhao guo's national strength is profound. This article will explore how big the military potential of the Zhao State, which was able to resist the qin with the strength of one country during the Warring States period, had. Was the post-war national power hit hard?
First, the demographic structure of the Zhao State
The Battle of Changping was a great war between Qin and Zhao for Shangdang territory. In April of the 55th year of the reign of King Zhao of Zhou (260 BC), the Qin general Wang Gong launched an attack on the Zhao army in Changping, and Lian Po led his army to fight. The fighting continued until September, when the Zhao army was defeated and surrendered. It lasted more than 5 months.
The fighting was so fierce that the two sides continued to increase their troops, so much so that at the end of the war, millions of people from both armies were hoarded on the front line of the battlefield. For Zhao Guo, all the young and strong main soldiers in the country who could rush to the battlefield were dispatched, and it was a battle of national strength. As a result of this battle, the Qin army:
"450,000 people were beheaded one hundred and fifty thousand."
In addition to the 400,000 soldiers who surrendered and were killed in the pit, there were also soldiers who died fighting on the battlefield, and the 450,000 troops of the Zhao State were completely destroyed.
It can be seen from this that at that time, Zhao Guo was able to be sent to the front line of young adults, a total of 450,000. Together with the defenders in the north, it must also be a strong fighting force that can be used as the main force, and its number is 100,000 people. At that time, Zhao Guodang had a main army of 550,000 people.
Ancient scholars such as Emperor Fumian of the Jin Dynasty deduced from the pre-Qin social structure that the number of troops should account for 1/3 of the population. Modern scholars have deduced that the number of troops at that time should account for 1/5 of the total population; the basis is based on the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions recorded in the Book of Han. The Thirty-Six Kingdoms, like the princely states of the Spring and Autumn Warring States, implemented the system of all-people military force, and their armies accounted for an average of 26% of the total population. Therefore, this ratio is simply reduced slightly to infer the proportion of soldiers in the princely states.
However, if you carefully examine this analogy, you will find that in fact, the countries of the Western Regions are not known for their martial arts, and it is difficult to compare with the pre-Qin countries. The Han Dynasty's martial arts and the system of all the people being soldiers have been degraded compared with the pre-Qin, and the Thirty-Six Kingdoms are still evaluated as follows: "There is no great prince in Bactria, and the cities are often small and long, and the people are weak and afraid of war.
Bangu said: "The countries of the Western Regions have their own kings and chiefs, and the soldiers are weak, and there is no unity." ”
Zhang Qianyan said of Loulan: "The Han envoys said that their state-owned cities were weak and easy to attack. ”
Among them, Wusun, who is known as the most powerful country in the Western Regions, "has a mouth of 630,000 and a victorious army of 188,800." "From this point of view, the whole people who pay attention to military activities are all military-oriented countries, and the proportion of the army to the population can reach about 1/3. It can be seen that the higher proportion of 1/3 inferred by ancient scholars is more rigorous. It is also the age of birth that is closer to the pre-Qin, and can know the social situation at that time.
Therefore, we calculate that 550,000 soldiers occupy 1/3 of the population of the Zhao state, and the population of the Zhao state should be about 1.65 million people.
Second, the mobilization limit of Zhao Guo
We calculate the number of people and the proportion of troops in the Zhao State, first, to know how much population can be used on the battlefield in addition to the main force; second, to know the degree to which the people are trained militarily. This is the key to knowing a country's war potential. Whether the state's population outside the main force can quickly act as an effective source of troops can only know its full available power for war.
After the Battle of Changping, the State of Zhao lost 450,000 troops, and anyone who believed that the State of Zhao had been empty of defense. As a result, in the offensive and defensive battle of the Qin army advancing on the capital Handan, the Zhao state mobilized the old and weak, and even repelled the Qin army and successfully defended the capital.
In addition to the strength of the northern Shubian forces to contain a part of the Qin army, the personnel involved in the battle were mainly composed of Zhao Men in the range of 16 to 65 years old who were in the range of 16 to 65 years old who were not in the Changping Battlefield except for the age of military service.
However, in terms of the combat ability to repel the Qin army, if the main force composed of 450,000 young and middle-aged people reflects the strength of the Zhao State; this army composed of old and weak is not a ragtag group, they can be used as a qualified backup team and recorded in the national combat strength. Later, the State of Yan attacked the State of Zhao, and at that time the King of Yan said that "all the strong people of the Zhao clan died in Changping, and their lonely and unsophisticated people could be cut down." "Attacking the Zhao State, the result that the Yan Army was still defeated by this reserve army also proved this."
We estimate that the Zhao state has a population of 1.65 million, and if there are half men and half men, there are 825,000 men. At this time, excluding the 450,000 people in the Battle of Changping and the 100,000 people in Shubian, there were 275,000. Excluding those who are too young and too old to fight, their number can be roughly estimated at about 150,000.
550,000 main troops, plus 150,000 weaker reserve population. This is the full war potential of the Zhao State.
Third, the post-war national strength of the Zhao State
The Battle of Changping was not only a turning point in the transformation of the Zhao state from prosperity to decline, but also a turning point in the entire history of the Warring States.
Before the Battle of Changping, the State of Zhao could rely on the strength of one country to compete with the State of Qin, and after that, it was at an absolute disadvantage. The problem with it is that after the huge loss of the young and middle-aged population, not only the number of combatants is reduced, but also a large number of production personnel are lost. Its domestic productivity must have declined rapidly, leading to a decline in national strength.
It is not difficult for us to speculate that the decline in productivity in the Zhao Kingdom is in a place of four wars, falling into a chain reaction of the decline of national strength, and cannot get rest and recuperation or even quickly restore and develop the population. As a result, on the eve of the fall of the Zhao state more than twenty years later, when Li Mu and the Qin army were at war, the Zhao state was still plagued by the inability to obtain sufficient troops. It can be said that after losing 450,000 troops, it was able to repel the Qin army in Handan, although it reflected the strength of the Zhao state, but the battle of Changping had already crippled this powerful country.
After the Battle of Changping, Zhao Guo was occasionally able to dispatch an army of more than 200,000 troops. Even when Zhao mourned King Xiang, he used Pang Nuan and Li Mu to defeat the Qin army several times. At the Battle of Ruyao Mountain, Pang Yan led a major defeat of Meng Xiao's 100,000 Qin army; Li Mu repelled the Qin army in the Battle of Fei and the Battle of Fanwu. For a while, the country's might was greatly enhanced, and there seemed to be signs of revival, but in fact, it was the end of the strong bow.
Although the Qin army also lost more than 300,000 troops, the country was much larger after all, and it was soon relieved. After that, it continued to go east out of Hangu Pass, and the kingdoms were still not opponents. Without the powerful State of Zhao, the annexation of the Six Kingdoms by the State of Qin was no longer hindrance.
Text/Da Fei
Resources:
1. "Examination of the Population of the Warring States", Zang Zhifei
2. "History of zhao shijia"
3. The Tale of the Western Regions of the Book of Han