Why must the city be conquered in ancient wars? several important reasons

The era we live in today can be said to be the most comfortable and comfortable era for ordinary people in history. After all, the advancement of science and technology has brought about earth-shaking changes in modern people's lives. Coupled with the current peaceful situation, it can be said that our generation can be regarded as the happiest people in thousands of years. However, since we live in a peaceful age, we will inevitably have a lot of daydreams and curiosity about war, and because we cannot personally experience the cruelty of war and do not understand the war, we will inevitably have a lot of cognitive barriers, which leads to many people While chatting after dinner, he made a lot of mistakes and became the butt of other people's jokes without even realizing it.

China is a country with a long history. Thousands of years of history have given birth to countless splendid civilizations, but at the same time, wars are going on. In China's long history of dynasty changes, it was mainly the Central Plains people who were galloping around, and conquering cities and territories was one of the main purposes of war. However, in the cold weapon era, war was very different from today. It is obvious that the underdeveloped transportation means that wars must rely on the construction of powerful cities to ensure logistics. Therefore, the most important thing in ancient wars is to siege cities. So today we will talk about those things in ancient wars that we are so accustomed to but have some ulterior motives.

The most important part of ancient wars was siege warfare. This was the most difficult part of the war and the decisive factor in victory or defeat. In the wars in the Central Plains, the ultimate goal and evaluation criterion of a general's battle was often to see how many cities he conquered. The so-called city must have become a large-scale city, and it must be surrounded by a moat. Because a large city must have sufficient money and food. Both the offensive and defensive sides need this money and food as a guarantee for war. Moreover, a city surrounded by a moat can often rely on the dangerous terrain to defend the city by the river. This geographical advantage can greatly alleviate the pressure on the defending generals. As a result, a question that makes people wonder arises, why must the purpose of ancient Chinese wars be to attack cities? Isn't it possible to bypass the city and directly capture large areas of land?

In fact, this question seems simple, but the content is very rich, and it takes a lot of time to answer it.

The primary role of cities in ancient wars was to reduce the risks of army marches. The real ancient war is not like what is shown in the TV series: as soon as it appears, the army gathers, the warring parties stand ready, the gongs and drums are loud, and the shouts that resound through the sky are followed by a hand-to-hand war. Although this can be enjoyable for the audience, it is far different from real war. In fact, it is not an interesting thing at all. In the early stage of the war, the army must prepare food, grass, soldiers and horses. After these military supplies are ready, the troops can be assembled and set off.

In ancient times, because transportation was not very convenient, it was not possible for the army to assemble and set off as quickly and conveniently as it is today. During a real war, it is impossible for all the troops to be dispatched. Because of roads and other reasons, the ancient armies often gathered separately and rushed to the battle location from various places. Moreover, even if the soldiers set off from the same place, they could not start from the same place as in a military parade. Walking through the square neatly. They had to set off in sections, section by section, and then stationed themselves in military formations after arriving at the battle location.

Only the cavalry can truly assemble quickly into an organized system, but the cavalry is a very costly service after all, and the main force of the Han government is still the infantry. This kind of efficiency of army gathering will also cause a phenomenon that is somewhat difficult to understand for today's people. The two warring parties often do not start fighting immediately after encountering each other. Both sides will wait for the arrival of all the main forces before starting war. In our opinion, this is unavoidable. It is suspected of delaying fighter planes, but it was a very common phenomenon in ancient wars. Because before all the main armies arrive, neither side has the confidence to fight a war, because such a hasty battle often ends up accidentally turning into a war of attrition that requires a large amount of property. This is a situation that neither side wants to see. Therefore, because of the actual march situation, the emergence of cities has become a very important requirement.

On the surface, a city on the plain is just a small piece of land. The gain or loss of this land does not seem to affect the overall situation of the war. In fact, this is not the case. In ancient times, people often lived in large villages. Around the city, such cities are often relatively developed and wealthy, with sufficient internal material preparations. Using the city as a base, a large number of troops can be stationed around it. The city is not only rich in resources, but also very convenient for gathering intelligence due to the trade between merchants. The influence of a city can often radiate to a large area around it, so if you capture a city, you can rely on the resources in the city to supplement your army's consumption. If the city is conquered, the surrounding rural towns will also be destroyed. Once you abandon the city and take a detour, not only will your own food and grass consumption be unable to be replenished, but the morale of the army will also drop. If you are not careful, the army relying on the city will send troops to attack and harass you. This is even more troublesome for the army.

The Ming Dynasty could almost be regarded as the pinnacle level of Han people's city defense and siege operations. So we will give an example that happened in the Ming Dynasty to support the previous discussion. When the Ming Dynasty was just beginning to rule the world, Emperor Jianwen was eager to cut down the feudal vassals, which led to rebellion among the feudal lords. King Zhu Di of Yan even succeeded in usurping the throne in one go. In the process of Zhu Di's coup, victory in the war was the primary factor for its success. Zhu Di once fought a very beautiful siege battle on his way to attack Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Because the route Zhu Di chose to go south at that time passed through Shandong, conquering Jinan City became a very important step. At that time, Zhu Di really spent a lot of effort to conquer Jinan.

Ancient cities were often the centers of inns. Because transportation was underdeveloped in ancient times, communication was even more important, and information transportation almost became a top priority. The entire Shandong post station system is centered on Jinan. Only by winning Jinan can we ensure the smooth flow of information and avoid becoming deaf. The post system we use relies on large cities for delivery. Once we have a city, we can control the postal route. In this way, we can completely cut off the enemy's source of information. This is an extremely important link in the war and must not be taken lightly. . After cutting off the postal route, the intelligence sources of Emperor Jianwen's side were frustrated. Many times, the party that controlled the postal route would release some false news to confuse the public. It was in this way that Zhu Di could confidently and boldly attack the city.

We have mentioned before that big cities have a huge influence on surrounding villages. A developed city must have a complete bureaucracy, otherwise it will not be able to complete various tasks issued by the court on weekdays. . The capital city of a large province must have the most complete bureaucracy in the province. The development of the city will also attract a large number of businessmen, thus completing the entire process of food collection, transportation and consumption. Only cities can control such resources. No matter how much land you get, you need to send soldiers to protect it, and it is impossible for each of these soldiers to live without food and drink. The wider the land, the more troops, and the more food is needed. The greater the number, none of which requires a complete urban system to provide.

After all, if you want to secure your position, you cannot blindly resort to plundering. You still have to act royally and use formal methods to obtain the food you need. The best strategy is to capture the city. Zhu Di's army also needed a large amount of food to ensure the overall morale of the army. It was impossible to expect a group of soldiers who were about to starve to death to fight as bravely as tigers and wolves. This was something that no one could do.

Even if food is obtained, transportation is still a big problem. Without one city after another to rely on, the cost of escorting grain and grass is very high, and it is not safe. The emergence of cities made long-distance grain and grass transportation very convenient. After all, if you want to conquer the world, you can't just plunder, kill, and loot. Looting along the way is completely a way of quenching thirst. Not to mention whether it can play a good role, the surplus grain of the farmers along the way cannot meet the needs of the army. Only big cities can have sufficient food reserves. After Zhu Di occupied Jinan, he could continue fighting without worrying about the lack of food and pay for his army. Jinan, which had great influence, became a huge military supply base, and the original official houses could be opened to supply food and drink for the army.

Because productivity was relatively low in ancient times, only large cities could gather hundreds of thousands of people. With the population advantage of big cities, soldiers can be recruited at any time without worrying about running out of troops and food.

The depleted soldiers can be quickly replenished, and even if the battle ahead encounters slight obstacles, soldiers can be quickly replenished. Moreover, with the city as a support, the soldiers fighting on the front line can also fight with peace of mind. They understand that once the war fails, they can hide in a strong city to temporarily relieve the pressure, and there will be no hidden worries of being attacked from both sides. Zhan Lai will also perform at a good level. As a big city in Shandong, the capture of Jinan City meant that Shandong soon became Zhu Di's support base. The soldiers could march to Nanjing with confidence, without worrying about food and grass issues, and their morale also became high.

After the example I gave, everyone will surely be able to understand the importance of cities to ancient wars. After mastering this kind of common sense, chatting with people after dinner can be more targeted, and you will not be laughed at because you know nothing.