preface
The State of Qin was in a historical period of great turmoil and great change, which is known as the Spring and Autumn Warring States.
According to historical data, the main area of activity of the Qin people was "Xizhuo", that is, the Tianshui area from present-day Shaanxi to Gansu.
The formation of the military power generation mode of the Qin State is the disintegration of the typical combat power generation method in the pre-Qin Che Array era, and the prototype stage of the typical combat power generation method from the Qin Han to the Tang Dynasty Cavalry Era.
The reason why the army of the Qin State was strong was because it seized this opportunity, changed the formation and structure of military forces, optimized the combat mode of the army, improved their combat effectiveness, gave them the upper hand in the competition, and finally won the victory and unified the six countries.
The main characteristics of the combat effectiveness of the Qin army
The rise of the Qin army on the northwestern plateau to the unification of China, this powerful army endured more than 550 years of conquest.
In the war with the Western nomads and the eastern countries, their combat effectiveness has formed the main characteristics of high morale, indomitability, elite soldiers, complementary strengths, strict military discipline, and flexible combat.
First, morale is high and unyielding
Before the founding of the state, when the Qin people were still in a clan society, they had been engaged in fierce struggles with other clans and nomadic tribes, so they developed a tradition of advocating force.
The Qin people's living state, until the late Western Zhou Dynasty, was still in the economic form of nomadism and hunting. The long hunting career has created the Qin people's warlike and martial arts, brave and warlike character.
The connection between the Qin people and the Zhou dynasty was to "protect the west" for the Zhou royal family, that is, a defensive line for the Zhou dynasty to resist the invasion of Xijong, so the war between the Qin people and Xirong was the most critical link in the early history of the Qin people.
The long-term war has created its strong military color and martial folk customs. Zhu Xi once said: "Most of the customs of the Qin people are still heroic, courageous, and forget death and take their lives. ”
Because of its remote location and different customs and habits from other countries in the Central Plains, the Central Plains countries regard it as "Yidi" and are unwilling to associate with it.
When the State of Qin became strong, it became one of the seven heroes of the Warring States and galloped across the Central Plains, but it was called the "country of tigers and wolves" because of its brave and good fighting.
The fighting spirit in the army of the Qin State was even higher due to the Shang Martingale Reform Law. In the transformation of the Qin state from slavery to feudalism, Shang Martingale adopted the method of using military merit and rule of law to make the army of the Qin state "follow the order like a stream, die without turning the heel".
Of course, in the process of development, the military strength of the Qin State also had some setbacks and failures.
For example, the army of the State of Qin lost at Xianshan in the Spring and Autumn Crusade and was defeated outside the river in the Warring States Period, and in the War of the State of Chu, the defeat of Li Xin and Mengwu and so on.
However, these setbacks and defeats did not cause the Qin army to collapse, but allowed the Qin army to learn a lesson, stand up again, unyielding, and greet a new round of war and new victories with high morale.
1. It is a soldier elite armor sharp complementary strengths
The economic and social development of the Qin state allowed them to continuously supply their army with high-quality weapons.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Qin people invented a bronze crossbow suitable for horseback combat in the war with the Rong people, which was widely used in the Qin army, with excellent design, high accuracy, long range and great power.
The Spring and Autumn Warring States were an era in which bronze weapons gradually declined, and steel weapons entered the battlefield and gradually prospered. The same was true of weapons production in the Qin state, such as the occupation of Shu County and Nanyang County, where iron smelting was developed, and many important smelting areas in Chu and Korea during the reign of the Qin king.
In terms of weapon quality, the Qin State has gradually surpassed those countries in the East that have a good weapon manufacturing foundation.
The Qin State army is not only well-equipped, but also knows how to optimally configure the three types of destructive weapons: long, long and short, so that they can be brought into maximum play.
As can be seen from the arrangement of the terracotta warriors, crossbowmen are set up in front to facilitate long-range large-scale shooting of the enemy. After that, there are infantry and charioteers located in the main body, armed with spears and other weapons to facilitate hand-to-hand combat, and infantry is also equipped with a large number of short swords to protect themselves and melee combat.
On the move, the cavalry uses the crossbow as the main weapon, so as to better play the advantage of fast and long attacks.
Third, military discipline is strict and combat is flexible
The strict military management system of the Qin State benefited from the rule of "governing the army by law" established by the Shang Martingale Reform Law.
The Shang Martingale Law established the rule of "governing the army by law" in the army, and the "reward and punishment" system with the "military state system" as the core.
This system of combining heavy rewards and severe punishment inherited the inherent martial arts tradition of the Qin people, which became an important factor in the strong combat effectiveness of the Qin army.
In addition to the military merit system, other military laws are also becoming more and more perfect and strict, and there are detailed and strict regulations in combat, training, logistics support, etc.
Of course, in order to truly implement and develop these systems and regulations, a large number of outstanding generals must correctly understand and implement the principle of administering the army with law.
During the Spring and Autumn period, car wars gradually declined. Infantry became the main branch, cavalry a separate branch, and vehicle soldiers a secondary branch.
The Qin army conformed to the trend of the times, did not stick to the old ways, and vigorously developed the cooperative operation of infantry, cavalry and cavalry, making their combat methods more flexible and optimizing their combat effectiveness formation mode.
Judging by the distribution of terracotta warriors, they are composed of infantry, cavalry, and vehicle troops, which are independent and related to each other.
This is a typical multi-branch closely coordinated combat formation, which can not only give full play to the advantages of each branch, but also lay a solid material foundation for the development of the command art of military generals.
The reasons affecting the formation mode of the combat effectiveness of the Qin army were analyzed
The reason why the Qin army was able to outperform other countries in terms of combat effectiveness model was closely related to their military practice, political and policy needs, and the influence of mainstream war concepts.
1. Military practice
The key reason for the formation of the Qin army's combat effectiveness model is that their army is good at learning lessons from war and honing its combat effectiveness in war.
The military practice of the Qin army can be roughly divided into several stages, each of which will have a significant impact on its combat effectiveness formation pattern.
1. It was the period of war with the nomads of the Northwest
Historically, when the Qin people fought foreign enemies, they were the first to make enemies of the nomads in the northwest region.
In 771 BC, Haojing was occupied by nomadic tribes from the Western Regions, and the Zhou Dynasty was forced to move the capital. When Zhou Tianzi marched east, the Qin people, who raised horses, sent troops to escort them, and Zhou Tianzi gave Qin people as princes, and the Qin people established their own country.
However, the Qin people, who had just established a state, were in trouble. At that time, the northwestern plateau was ruled by nomadic tribes, and these horsemen were extremely brutal, often attacking and killing Qin people.
The history books say that the ancestors of the Qin people died on the battlefield, and the newly established Qin army was also bloodied.
However, this tenacious force grew in the face of adversity. In the war with the nomads, the Qin people developed cavalry, mastered the basic tactics of cavalry, and developed more powerful weapons, which is why they were able to achieve the formation mode of cavalry combat effectiveness earlier than other countries.
2. It is the Spring and Autumn period
Zhou Tianzi completely lost his dominance at this time, and the Central Plains was also caught in a war. Daqin, which is based in the northwest, has basically set its sights on the east.
When Duke Wen of Qin came to power, he marched eastward, carried out more military strikes against the Rong people, and achieved great results, "taking the remnants of the Zhou people, and the land to Qi".
When Duke Mu of Qin came to power, he defeated the Jin state in the eastward march, and in the process of westward advance, he "benefited the twelfth state, opened up thousands of miles of land, and dominated Xirong." "When he went south, he once captured the state of Yan and directly became an empire that could compete with the Jin, Qi, Chu and other countries.
Judging from the guards who escorted Chong'er back to China to inherit the throne at that time, "500 leather chariots, 2,000 horses, and 50,000 pawns."
It can be fully explained that the Qin army at that time not only had vehicle soldiers and powerful infantry that could adapt to the era of car warfare, but also had powerful cavalry that was not available in the Central Plains countries at that time.
This military change was in line with the trend of the time and laid a solid foundation for future unification.
3. It is the Spring and Autumn Warring States
In the early Warring States period, due to the political chaos of the Qin Dynasty, military development was hindered, and it was finally defeated by Wei, and the army retreated to Luohe. Since the Duke of Qin Xiaogong, the State of Qin has ushered in a new economic recovery and development.
After the death of Duke Xiao, the Qin army developed into a powerful army with "more than 100,000 armor, 1,000 cars, and 10,000 horses", and launched large-scale offensives against Eastern countries again and again under the guidance of military strategic ideas such as company breakthrough and long-distance friendship and close attack.
The army of the State of Qin went south to destroy Shu, broke the Chu army in Hanzhong, broke the battle of Han Wei Yique, and broke the battle of Huayang in Wei and Zhao.
The strength of the army of the Qin State is getting stronger and stronger, the use of cavalry is becoming more and more flexible, and the use of vehicle soldiers is also biased towards logistics, rather than direct participation in the battle, with the development of infantry, the coordinated operation of cavalry, infantry, and vehicle soldiers has formed a fixed combat effectiveness formation mode.
This laid a solid foundation for the model Qin Shi Huang to rule the world, and it only took more than ten years to complete the unification of the six countries.
Second, political and policy orientation and support
In the Qin army, being guided by political policy and supporting the establishment of its combat power formation method is also a distinctive feature of its strong combat effectiveness.
1. It is the diligence of Duke Wen and Duke Mu
Since the Duke of Qin Xianggong officially implemented slavery in 770 AD, the Qin people have moved from clan society to class society and began their own path of development.
The corresponding clan armament also completed the process of armed transformation from a slave state in this process.
During the Spring and Autumn period, Duke Wen of Qin gradually established the legal system of the slave state and launched military strikes against Rong. Qin Wengong's diligent administration ideology played a positive role in stabilizing and perfecting the formation model of the army's combat effectiveness.
In the era of Duke Mu of Qin, Duke Mu was diligent in finding corporal Xian, and reused Bailixi, Uncle Ji, Yuyu and others to build civil engineering in agricultural affairs and achieved fruitful results.
For example, in 647, there was a great famine in the Jin state, "please Su in Qin", and grain trucks and ships were transported for thousands of miles, which shows that the agricultural economy at that time was very developed.
The economic development of the Qin state, coupled with the military policy of "eastward, western, and southward", prompted them to constantly optimize and perfect the way of forming the combat effectiveness of their army, and constantly won victories in battles against the enemy.
2. The Shang Martingale Transformation Method during the Qin Xiaogong period
During the Spring and Autumn Warring States, a series of changes took place in the Central Plains countries, and the Qin State failed to synchronize with the reforms of the Central Plains countries due to internal and external troubles and political turmoil.
Until the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, when Qin Xiaogong came to power, he was determined to carry out reform of the law.
His Legalists, represented by Shang Martingale, carried out a relatively thorough reform of the feudal system, turning the slave system into a feudal system, greatly enhancing the people's enthusiasm for production and war, and turning from the previous backwardness to the current strength.
With the support of the new social system and military laws, and with the development of the agricultural economy, the Qin army restarted the optimization and improvement of the way of forming combat effectiveness, and once again began the pace of war with foreign enemies and the struggle for cities and land.
3. The period of Qin Shi Huang created a new situation
On the basis of the foundation created by the previous dynasty Qin Jun, by the time of Qin Shi Huang, he already had the ability to dominate the world.
However, there were still factors inside and outside Qin that hindered the great cause of unification. In China, there were two major political groups, the Empress Dowager's Listening Party, the Lü Clan, and the Miao, whose presence not only posed a great threat to the rule of the Qin state, but also split the court into two different factions, thus affecting the political unity of the country.
In order to ensure that the war could proceed smoothly, the Qin dynasty eliminated these two political groups and achieved military and political unity in the country.
In foreign countries, although the Qin State's forces are strong, the Qin State army does not have absolute confidence to join forces against the Six Nations.
In order to adapt to the large-scale unification war, Qin Shi Huang carried out a series of political and military diplomatic activities, which sabotaged the joint operations between the Kwantung countries, thus ensuring the implementation of the policy of individual defeats in the military.
The coordination of political, diplomatic and military policies enabled the advantages of the Qin state's military strength to be fully exploited and the unification war could proceed smoothly.
Third, the Legalist concept of war also played a role in promoting the formation mechanism of the Qin people's combat capability
The "Shang Martingale" reform implemented during the Qin Xiaogong period not only greatly improved the economic strength of the Qin state, but also optimized and improved the way the Qin people's combat effectiveness was generated.
The military essence of the Shang Martingale Reform Method is to infiltrate its thinking into various aspects such as army morale, military service system, and arms manufacturing, which greatly improves the combat effectiveness of the Qin army.
The Legalist concept of war had a great influence on the heart of the Qin state's army. The military merit system of the State of Qin is an important part of the Shang Martingale Transformation Law, and compared with other major countries, the military merit system of the State of Qin is more comprehensive.
His system of military merit is: "Those who have military merit are each awarded the title of the lord... A sect shall not be a possession unless it has a theory of military merit. The rank of the Ming Venerable and the humble lord is inferior, and the concubines of the famous field house are ranked by the family. Those who have merit are prosperous, but those who are not meritorious are rich. ”
This rule broke with the tradition of family honor, allowing low-level soldiers to deprive them and their families of their slave status and receive knighthoods for their battle merits.
The twenty lords of the Qin State stimulated the courage of soldiers to fight on the battlefield with their officials and privileges, which greatly improved the morale of the soldiers. In addition, Shang Martingale also made detailed provisions on the army's reward and punishment system.
For example, if a soldier kills a person on the battlefield, his entire family is exempt from servitude and taxes.
In siege warfare, those who are timid and fleeing will be tortured, and these provisions are all to encourage soldiers to kill the enemy bravely, so that they "have no way out without fighting."
The Legalist ideology of war optimized the military service system of the Qin state. After Shang Martingale changed the law, he reformed the household registration, established the national army system, and implemented county conscription.
The system provides for men to practice martial arts when they reach adulthood and, if necessary, women to participate in combat in order to strengthen the army. The county conscription system has reformed the military service system of three generations of "national people" and laid a solid and solid foundation for the expansion of military resources.
At the same time, the length of service in the army was further increased, and a certain number of high-level reserve troops of a hired nature were retained. All this has further improved the military service system of the Qin State, and greatly improved the combat capability of the Qin State's army.
The Legalist ideology of war optimized the research and development, manufacturing and management of military equipment in the Qin state.
Shang Martingale's reform made the farmer's thinking ingrained in people's hearts, and the concern for war also prompted the Qin state to increase the research of weapons to improve the combat effectiveness of the army.
In appearance, the weapons of the Qin State also tend to be standardized, improving the stability and lethality of the weapons. The four-level management system of the Qin Arsenal was also gradually improved, and rewards and punishments for the quality of weapons were formulated.
The Qin army is very strict in the management of weapons, such as the storage of weapons, which must be strictly inspected and recorded.
When distributing weapons, they must be strictly registered and written with the words "Awarded by such and such a bank", and if they are not engraved according to the regulations due to negligence or other reasons, they will be held responsible.
In short, the Legalist concept of war has a profound impact on the research and development, manufacturing, management and other aspects of the Qin army, so that the combat weapons of the Qin army have strong attack power, better quality and better universality, thus greatly enhancing the combat effectiveness of the Qin army.
The basic model for the generation of military power in the Qin state
On the basis of relatively advanced steel weapons and bronze weapons, the military industry system of combining counties and counties with soldiers and farmers was adopted.
The Qin army took infantry, riding and vehicles as the main factors, supplemented by high morale, management factors of managing the army according to law, and military ideological factors, which formed the basic form of the military strength of the Qin state.
First, the development of weapons, the development of weapons in the Qin State, in the Warring States period, not only inherited the advanced technology of the previous generation, but also raised the production process of bronze weapons to a new height, forming a serialized and standardized weapon.
At the same time, the military strength of the Qin State is also constantly developing new achievements in productive forces, and gradually forming a new type of weapons and equipment, which has reached a certain degree of standardization.
The Spring and Autumn period was the most developed era of bronze. Bronzes from the Xia Dynasty, around the needs of the era of car warfare, have developed relatively maturely. For example, the development and perfection of the "Five Soldiers of the Che" (spear, halberd, sword, shield, bow).
The crafting skills of these weapons have reached the point of perfection, they have mastered the skill of using metal, and they have adopted different proportions in different parts of the weapon, which has increased the power of the weapon. This was the case with the bronze weapons used by the Qin army.
It can be seen from the bronzes unearthed by the Terracotta Army that their weapons are unified in shape, diverse, of excellent quality and numerous.
Based on the reform of the military service system. By the Warring States period, the military service system of the Qin State had broken the tradition of the civilian military system and changed to a county conscription system that combined farmers and soldiers.
At the beginning of the founding of the Qin state, the implementation of the all-militia service system characterized by nomads effectively resisted the invasion of the Rong people, and at the same time tempered the fighting spirit of the Qin people who were good at fighting.
After the Duke of Qin Wen unified Guanzhong, the Qin people gradually formed a set of slavery system, and its military service system was also modeled on the Central Plains countries, and implemented a mixed military system of the civilian army and the world military system.
As the territory occupied by the Qin people in foreign conquests continued to expand, the Qin king set the newly annexed area as counties and counties, controlled by himself, and the military service system adapted to it, implementing the combination of county and county military industry, and this extensive conscription method provided the Qin army with a large number of troops to cope with the brutal annexation.
The reform of the military service system was to meet the needs of the Qin people's continuous development and development in various eras, and the county conscription system was the best choice that the Qin people could achieve in the era of unification.
Innovate in the way you fight. The fighting method of the Qin State had already reflected the power of cavalry as early as the founding of the state.
In the Spring and Autumn Warring States, due to the increase in the number of infantry, it became the main war force, and the cavalry gradually developed into an independent army. The use of cavalry is the biggest feature and advantage of the Qin State compared to other eastern countries.
The Qin army learned from its historical experience to use cavalry flexibly, which has irreplaceable surprise effects, and although it is not the main force, it can also play a vital role on the battlefield.
It's like Bai Qi's role in the Battle of Changping for "light soldiers".
It can be seen from the layout of the terracotta army that the art of war of the Qin State has the characteristics of the pre-Qin "every battle as a formation", and at the same time, it also grasps the development of arms and weapons, adopts the tactic of coordinated foot, riding and vehicle, and learns from each other's strengths, all of which play their own characteristics and advantages, and maximize the overall combat effectiveness.
Relying on the development of other factors, the guidance of military theory, the progress of military education, the training of military morale, and the formation of the military strength of the Qin State are all indispensable auxiliary factors. These are all important factors in the production of the combat effectiveness of the Qin State army.
epilogue
As mentioned above, the infiltration of the military and political ideology of the Qin State, strict military training and training, the military merit system, and the military spirit and fighting spirit inspired by strict rewards and punishments have all promoted the formation of the military strength of the Qin State to some extent.
In short, the Qin army is based on weapons, military service system, and combat form, supplemented by military theory, military education and training, military morale and other elements, which constitute the basic form of the military strength of the Qin state.
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