Count the number of armies of various Chinese dynasties

1. The number of troops in the Western Zhou Dynasty

If you look at the number of troops in China in the Western Zhou Dynasty should not exceed 200,000 purely from the historical records, because the military system and statistics at that time were relatively accurate, this is also the first time in Chinese history that the number of troops has been counted, and then the previous Xia Dynasty and Shang Dynasty armies were basically in the embryonic state, and it is difficult to count the actual number, but there is a tradition that has been preserved, that is, the prisoners and criminals and slaves were armed into an army during the war. The main example is the Battle of Muye of the Zhou Shang Dynasty, but the number of troops participating in the two sides at that time is still a matter of discussion among historians, but it can basically be denied that the Shang Dynasty army was 700,000 at that time. Because the population and economy of the Shang Dynasty at that time were simply not enough to maintain such a strong standing army.

2. The number of armies of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period

The Western Zhou Dynasty was a relatively stable dynasty in Chinese history, so the number of its troops has remained relatively low among the great dynasties of China. But when history entered the Spring and Autumn Period, especially the Warring States Period, the number of Chinese armies swelled. At that time, the total population of China would not exceed 20 million at most, but at the end of the Warring States period, the number of troops reached a staggering 5 million, but this number should be extremely watery. Because there are not many professional soldiers in Chinese history, mainly the personal armed forces of the people and the privileged class during the war, when the Zhao State was killed by 400,000 in the first war of Changping, and the great decline of national strength can be seen that the army at that time was basically composed of all the young and middle-aged labor force of the country, so in fact, the number of standing armies in various countries is basically not too much when there is no war. Other countries can basically maintain a standing army of about 100,000 even if it is very strong, not including the relatively weak Yan and South Korea among the Seven Heroes, which can be seen from the war between Qi and Wei in the early Warring States period, because the power of Qi was quite strong among the Seven Heroes at that time, and Qi was also the first country to implement a standing army (which is recorded in history), so Qi is more representative, and the number of standing troops that can be dispatched in a short period of time during the war between Qi and Wei is about 100,000. During this period, China should be able to maintain a standing army of around 500,000 to 800,000. Far from reaching the record of 5 million people recorded in the history books, you can think about how it was possible to feed such a large standing army with the agriculture and economy of China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

3. The number of troops in the Qin and Han dynasties

As for the number of Qin's troops in the early stage, it was relatively stable, about 300,000 to 500,000. However, in the later period, especially during the peasant uprising, the number of Qin's troops fluctuated greatly, for example, Zhang Han armed 200,000 prisoners and slaves to build the Qin Dynasty's palace overnight, so this period became another period in Chinese history when the number of troops was swollen. The massive expansion of the army by the warlords in various places led to a chaotic economy and agriculture, which is why Liu Bang was able to defeat Xiang Yu in the end, because Liu Bang had the best agricultural base and the best economic base at that time. In the early years of the Han Dynasty, although the history records that Liu Bang dispatched 700,000 troops, if we get rid of the people who provided logistics for the Han army and temporarily joined the army, the Han army should actually be only about 500,000 (the specific number is really difficult to estimate, I hope to find accurate information friends to fill in). Later, due to the policy of rest and recuperation in the Han Dynasty, the number of troops could only be less than this, and it could not be more than this. Coupled with the existence of a small kingdom in the Han Dynasty, the number of troops in the early Han Dynasty should be around 300,000. However, when the Han Dynasty entered the middle period, especially in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the number of troops in the Han Dynasty increased on a large scale, which was the result of the Han Dynasty's use of troops against the Xiongnu and the Western Regions, but this period did not exist for too long, because the standing army in the agricultural era was actually the country's largest economic burden, so the number of troops in the Han Dynasty showed a downward trend after that. After that, although there was a period of civil strife, there was a slight increase in the number of troops, but throughout the entire Han Dynasty (Western ** Eastern Han Dynasty), the number of China's standing army basically remained at about 300,000, which is still a relatively low level.

4. The number of troops during the Three Kingdoms period

Then Chinese history entered the first period of chaos, the Three Kingdoms. There are often very large deviations in the historical records of this period, such as the number of soldiers participating in the war between Cao Cao and Sun Liu from nearly 2 million (Cao 150, Sun Liu 20) to 400,000 (Cao 300,000, Sun Liu about 100,000). However, we can learn from the detailed record of the Battle of Guandu that Yuan Shao, who had one-third of China's population and territory at that time, collapsed after losing 100,000 troops, and it can be seen that the number of troops at that time should not have exceeded 1 million. How obvious the gap between this Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is that there are millions at every turn, but it is understandable that fiction is fictional for the sake of literature as a literary work.

5. The number of troops during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties

After that, China entered a period of brief unification, but then there was a historical chaos in China, during this period the number of China's standing army is even more difficult to count, when the war of 500,000 has happened several times in Chinese history, not to mention in the economic and underdeveloped social turmoil of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, at this time the number of China's standing army will not exceed 1 million at most. Of course, it is possible that the number of troops in the country will exceed the previous record of 500,000.

6. The number of troops in the Sui and Tang dynasties

In the Sui and Tang dynasties, because the central dynasty had an absolute advantage over the surrounding countries for a considerable period of time, the number of troops showed a relatively obvious downward trend, which can be seen from the Anshi Rebellion that broke out in the Middle Tang Dynasty, when the army of Anlushan was about 100,000, and as a result, the Tang Dynasty Tongguan lost 100,000 troops and fell into a desperate situation without soldiers is the most obvious example, so the number of Chinese troops in the Sui and Tang dynasties should not exceed the previous average, that is, 30 to 500,000 standing troops.

7. The number of armies in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms and the Song Dynasty

Five dynasties and ten kingdoms, the Chinese army once again appeared a momentum of evil expansion, coupled with the increase in the strength of the surrounding enemies faced by the central government, the number of Chinese troops rose significantly, and finally reached the highest point in history of nearly 1 million (the Northern Song Dynasty does not include the 300,000 troops of the Liao State and the 150,000 to 200,000 troops of the Western Xia, as well as a small number of troops in Tibet and Dali), but this situation did not appear for too long, with the defeat of the Jin State in the Northern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty favored the south, The Chinese army returned to about 800,000 (about 300,000 in the Jin Kingdom, 300,000 to 400,000 in the Southern Song Dynasty, and a small number in Dali, Tubo, and Western Xia), and this period was the first period in Chinese history when there was a large-scale increase in the number of troops.

8. The number of troops of the Yuan Dynasty

The subsequent Yuan Dynasty had relatively strict control over the number of troops, which was related to the Mongols' strong motivation of cavalry and racial differentiation, so the number of Chinese troops in this period dropped to about 500,000.

10. The number of troops in the Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty is another important period in Chinese history to increase the number of troops, the Ming Dynasty in addition to the huge regular army and even the earliest invention of paramilitary organizations and intelligence services, which caused a surge in the number of Ming Dynasty troops, so that the country needs to keep raising taxes for this army, which indirectly led to their own demise, the number of troops in the Ming Dynasty during this period broke through the 1 million mark for the first time in Chinese history, which is more famous for the number of Guanning Iron Cavalry is about 100,000, and Zuo Liangyu's army in the south and the 8th Battalion near Nanjing (Shi Kefa commanded a battalion of soldiers at that time).

11. The number of Qing Dynasty troops

In the early Qing Dynasty, there was another large-scale decline in the number of Chinese troops, and in addition to the 8 Banner Army and the 200,000 Mongolian iron cavalry, the early Qing Dynasty army was about 200,000 green battalions, and the number was about 500,000. Emperor Ren's policy of rest and recuperation had a lot to do with it, which also led to a massive increase in the Chinese population, which provided an important basis for the subsequent leap in the number of Chinese troops. After the middle of the Qing Dynasty, due to political corruption and economic recession, the country's political instability and several more serious peasant uprisings appeared, which led to a surge in the number of Chinese troops, in the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods, the strength of the Green Battalion reached 700,000, and the total number of Chinese troops reached a record high during this period, and various military and paramilitary forces reached more than 1.2 million.

It is said that the largest army in Chinese history was during the 1946-1950 Chinese Liberation War, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party only put into battle more than 1,300 million troops, and 8 million were wiped out by the Gong Production Party, and there have never been so many soldiers fighting on the land of China in Chinese history, and when Qin Shi Huang unified the six countries, the seven countries combined did not exceed 4 million people, and even during the Three Kingdoms period, Wei, Shu, and Wu did not add up to more than 4 million people. The number of Chinese troops was actually limited by the population at that time, and the Manchu army was the largest, once reaching more than 7 million, and the population of China reached nearly 400 million at that time. Therefore, the largest number of troops in Chinese history was during the Chinese Liberation War from 1946 to 1950, and if you add up the militia and paramilitary forces, it may exceed 50 million people.

For most of China's history, the number of armies hovered between 300,000 and 500,000, and when there was a dynastic change or civil strife, the number of armies would increase dramatically in a short period of time, but not more than 2 million, especially the growth of the standing army. The reason for this is the lack of population and the economy is not enough to maintain a large number of standing armies, as for why the number of armies in history often does not match the reality, this is related to the lack of strict statistics in ancient times, the existence of a large number of private armies, and the emperor's great success. However, after the 16th century, due to economic development and population increase, the number of Chinese troops began to increase significantly.

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