What is the difference between the concept of 100,000 troops in the Three Kingdoms period and the current 100,000 troops?

Military strength is a necessary condition for establishing a dynasty, and the victory or defeat of a war is a necessary condition for determining military strength. However, looking at chinese military history, we can find that the more populous dynasties, the less military personnel. For example, during the Qin and Han dynasties, the population was relatively small, but the number of war troops could reach one million. However, in the Han Dynasty, with a large population and frequent wars, there were only hundreds of thousands of combat troops.

Take Wei, the most powerful of the three countries, as an example. During the Three Kingdoms period, the population of Cao Wei was 4 million. Under the relaxed corvee conditions, according to the ancient production level, 20 people can support a "full-time worker" and 200,000 people. According to the calculation of heavy corvee, one soldier for ten people can dismiss 400,000 people. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao easily let Xiahou, Zhang Liao and others lead the troops by 50,000. This is unlikely.

Battle of Red Cliffs Cao Cao claims to have 800,000 troops. Can the actual combat troops reach 800 thousand? Don't say that it's the Three Kingdoms period and the population is sparse. Any dynasty in the history of China was able to organize 800,000 troops, which is a remarkable thing. You should know that there are not only soldiers in the army, but also chefs and logistics. In fact, the100000 troops mentioned are not the actual number of combatants.

In fact, according to the situation of the three countries at that time, many soldiers joined the army just to eat enough, or even forced. Therefore, the pursuit of the team is different from that of the soldiers, with 50,000 people fighting 500 people. One side lost 50 people and the other side lost 500 people. So from the team's point of view, although some troops lost, it was still a victory. From the team's point of view, this is a victory.