Was there really a war of millions of troops in ancient China?

In theory, the country can pull out a million troops, but it is impossible to really fight. Many times, the ancient boasted million-strong army was basically a psychological tactic.

For example, the ancient emperor ordered an attack on that country and then dispatched a million troops. We can imagine that there was no mechanized equipment in ancient times, and the emperor said that war would start tomorrow, and millions of troops would assemble tomorrow? Not to mention the million-strong army, it took a year for the Han Dynasty to assemble 300,000 troops nationwide.

Wang Han Mangzhuan:? General Mang sternly warned the Japanese army to send 300,000 men with 300 rations, help Haidai in the east and take Jianghuai in the south, and then prepare. According to the plan, we haven't assembled for a year, and the first one will be exposed, so the situation is not available. It's also hard. ?

In other words, if a country's land area exceeds 1 10,000 square kilometers, it will take several months to assemble an army alone. Among them, it takes time for the county to take orders, and then it takes several months to go door-to-door to catch young people and prepare food, and it takes several months for young people to go to the market. If you want to pull a million troops to fight, the emperor may die as soon as he gathers.

So in theory, if all the conditions are ready, it is possible to mobilize millions of people, but in practice, especially in the ancient environment, it is almost impossible. Because the mobilization time alone is long enough, the consumption of grain and grass in the assembly is a terrible figure, and a large number of layoffs caused by injury, illness and flight during the assembly process will be much less than originally expected.

Therefore, in the history of China, people who always say that they dispatched a million troops to end the war in a short time have a lot of moisture. The same is true of the battle of Pengcheng, the battle of Kunyang and the battle of Feishui, which many people say.

Battle of Pengcheng

The battle of Pengcheng claimed to have 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers, but when did Liu Bang set out? Fifty thousand people, riding five thousand? This figure comes from Biography of Historical Records and Qing Bu.

Your majesty led troops to attack Pengcheng, and the king of Chu did not go to Qi. Your Majesty sent 50,000 soldiers and rode 5,000. Can you win Huainan? Qing Bu's Historical Records and Biography

Liu bang's mobilization time is only one month, and a month's time is doomed to not gather many people. Soldiers who can assemble can only be close to themselves, so the number of soldiers around him is only 55,000, while the 56th Army only claims that this is just a psychological tactic to improve morale and put pressure on the enemy during World War I..

Battle of Kunyang

In 23 AD, Liu Xiu and Wang Mang fought in Kunyang. According to historical records, Wang Mang has an army of 420,000, but in fact it may be less than 654.38+ 10,000.

According to the Book of History of Han Dynasty, in April of 23, Wang Mang mobilized all counties in the country, with a planned population of 6.5438+0 million, but it was finally decided to have 420,000 people. In May of 23, Wang Mang set out from Luoyang. As mentioned earlier, there were no vehicles such as cars and trains in ancient times, and ordinary soldiers even rode horses in luxury, but it took at least 1 year to mobilize 420,000 people nationwide. So follwed mobilized in April and began to send troops to Luoyang in May.

It should be understood here that Wang Mang was a national general mobilization, which means that when he sent his troops, the soldiers from other counties were still on the way to assemble, and he had already set off. Therefore, it is impossible for Wang Mang to have 420,000 troops at the gates of Kunyang, so why not just write it in the Book of Were Han? There are still 100 thousand mang troops at the gate? , that is to say, the soldiers who are still on the way to the war will go to Kunyang to become the soldiers of follwed, and at most it will be 654.38+million, maybe not so much.

Because, "East View Han Ji" records that Wang Mang's army could not reach Kunyang City. Fifty or sixty thousand? The data here are very different. Therefore, the scene of millions of troops fighting in ancient times is feasible in theory, but it is a bit difficult to practice.

Battle of feishui

The Battle of Feishui is a famous battle in the history of China, because the history books recorded the battle scenes of 1 120000, but it was actually a hasty military mobilization. According to Zi Tongzhi Bamboo Slips, it only took 1 10 days from the beginning of mobilizing troops to the battle of Feishui.

According to the mobilization timetable of Zitongzhijian and Jin Shu, in July 383 of the lunar calendar, Fu Jian mobilized troops, and the people took out 1 person from1person; On August 2, Fu Rong, Mu Rongchui and others were appointed as pioneers, with 250,000 troops. On August 8, Fu Jian set out, with more than 600,000 book troops and 270,000 cavalry; 10 Fu Jian conquers Shouchun; 10 10/20, Xie Xuan and Fu Jian fought at feishui, and then Fu Jian fled back to Luoyang.

According to the book, Fu Jian ordered in July to mobilize the whole country to recruit able-bodied men, including former Qin, Youzhou, Jizhou, Liangzhou and Yizhou. , with a total area of 2 million ordinary kilometers. In ancient times, the fastest way to summon was to ride a horse. At the speed of soldiers riding horses day and night, it took several months to disperse the call.

After receiving the order, all counties began to take action, including pumping able-bodied men, preparing food and grass, preparing weapons and clothing, vehicles with luggage, etc., which took several months. However, the pioneers of two states in Ji You sent letters in July, and after several days of marching, they arrived in Pengcheng in September. The farthest Youzhou is 2,000 miles away from Pengcheng, which is enough to show that the able-bodied men in Youzhou set off in a hurry before they were ready, so the number of people in this situation must be very small, and so are other states.

The vanguard troops are basically the original troops in the state, so they can start first, but it takes a long time to select able-bodied men. At that time, Fu Jian needed the vanguard troops to prepare in Pengcheng. Therefore, it is enough to guess that the million-strong army recorded in historical materials is actually only one tenth of the number of pioneers ahead, and at best it will not exceed 200,000.

It is not impossible to have a million troops, but time must be sufficient.

The battlefield situation is changing rapidly, time is extremely precious, and the mobilization of combat depends on time. From mobilization to assembly, from preparing materials to delivering materials, it takes time here. In ancient times, the traffic was underdeveloped, so it was impossible for the emperor to say that the whole country was mobilized, and the soldiers were assembled and appeared in front of him the next day.

Ancient battles were basically fought on the nearest border, and the emperor could not wait a year to assemble. Usually it is an imperial edict in January, and the vanguard troops set out in February and March. For example, the above-mentioned expansion, Kunyang and Feishui wars all rushed to send troops, that is to say, they did not wait for the arrival of the follow-up troops, which led to a great difference between the overall strength and the planned strength in the imperial edict.

To sum up, it is almost impossible to realize the battle scene of millions of troops in ancient times, and it can only be realized in theory. After all, the requirements for fighting a million-strong army are too high, which was almost impossible in ancient times.

In ancient times, a soldier needed two people to transport the food and grass. Normally it is 2: 1. Millions of soldiers and people will reach nearly three million here. During the March, the daily food consumption is huge, because not only soldiers have to eat, but also people who deliver materials have to eat and drink, so it is said that frequent wars in ancient times will bring down the whole country.

In addition, millions of troops went to the battlefield, and the general gave the order. Without walkie-talkies and speakers, a sentence was passed from the front to the back, and the content was out of shape. And there are really millions of teams walking. It is estimated that all the soldiers in front have finished fighting, and they just walked behind.