Regarding the military strength of the Three Kingdoms period, Tao Yuanzhen has a brief discussion in the "Three Kingdoms Food and Goods Chronicle", he said: "Wei Zhijiang soil, at its peak, there were no less than six or seven hundred thousand people; The soldiers of Shu were no less than 100,000 people at their peak; Wu Zhi's soldiers, at their peak, were no less than 300,000 people"

。

The ratio of the soldiers and civilians www.biquge.info the pen and the fun and the pavilion can also be roughly known.

"Food and Goods of the Three Kingdoms" said: "During the reign of Emperor Wei Yuan, the total number of households in Wei and Shu was only 5 million or hundreds of thousands."

At that time, the strength of Wei was 600,000 or 700,000, and basically eight ordinary people had to feed one soldier, not including the expenses of the royal family, officials, state institutions, daily expenses, etc.

Not only Wei is such a proportion, but also Shu Han, "Tongdian - Food and Goods VII" records: In the first year of Yanxing, the population of Shu Han was 940,000, and the number of troops was more than 100,000, and it was also eight or nine ordinary people for one soldier.

The same is true of the state of Wu, in the fourth year of the reign of Wu, Wu had a population of 2 million, and the army after the fall of Wu was 230,000.

Also this 9:1 ratio.

But this is the normal situation of the country, because although China is still divided during the Three Kingdoms period, the three countries are all state machines, their operations have been basically rationalized, and the distribution of troops and labor is relatively balanced, but the heroes of the late Han Dynasty are basically rampant and violent, and the later period is better, and the early stage of Lazhuang Ding is commonplace, you must know that Cao Cao was in Jian'an for about twenty-four years, in order to deal with Shu and Wu's turns, he was still forcibly conscripting, and as a result, Hou Yin's rebellion occurred, and the situation was estimated to be more serious in the early years of Jian'an.

Therefore, the ratio of soldiers to civilians at the end of the Han Dynasty was basically maintained at seven or eight to one.

You must know that eight to one is already a fairly high ratio, and seven to one means that young and middle-aged men have basically disappeared from the people, and most of them have appeared in the army!

This does not take into account the situation of family members and forced women to join the army.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, there were many "100,000" in history books

"Millions"

The words are actually exaggerated, or outcasts, not pure army.

And the "armor soldier"

It is not necessarily that they are really recruited to serve in the army, there is a "reserve"

nature.

And the population of the country.

Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty and the third year of Yongshou (157), the number of Chinese households reached 1,677,960 households, and 56,486,856 people...... By the first year of Emperor Taikang of the Jin Dynasty (280), it had dropped to 2,459,840 households, or 16,163,863 households.

The population has been reduced by more than 40 million people!

You must know that this is still the result of the great population growth in the last years of the Three Kingdoms, and the decrease in the middle population can be "amazing"

to describe!

And such a large population decline was mainly during the period of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty.

For this point, the "Food and Goods Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" lists four historical records to illustrate the problem: the Later Han Shu Zhongchang Tong Biography of Chang Yan and Reason: The Han Dynasty suffered from Wang Mang's rebellion in the second hundred years, and the number of its remnants and destruction was doubled by Qin Xiangyi.

A further analysis shows that if the population of Shu is calculated, there were about 940,000 people when Shu died, and 4.43 million people when Wei died, and then calculated by the population of Wu who swallowed Wu, about 2.3 million people when Wu died.

Considering the repeated wars during the Three Kingdoms period, the number of people who died, fled, and hid was quite high, and it is inferred that during the Jian'an period, the population of the country was at most about 7 million, and the army was 800,000 or 900,000 (half of which could be "elite soldiers")

are doubtful).

In this way, the actual strength of the famous battles of the Three Kingdoms recorded in the history books is as follows: the battle of Guandu, Cao Cao 30,000 or 40,000, and Yuan Shao's "more than 100,000"

； In the battle of Chibi, Cao Cao was 1560,000, Sun Quan was 50,000, and Liu Bei was 120,000. The "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" records in detail.

In the Battle of Yiling, the Wu State under the command of Lu Xun resisted the Shu army: 50,000 troops.

("Zizhi Tongjian", "Three Kingdoms Wu Zhu Biography", "Lu Xun Biography" are all recorded); The total strength of the Shu army was around 72,000 (excluding Zhao Yun's army), of which 59,000 fought in the Yiling area.

After the defeat, Liu Bei retreated to Yong'an with 23,000 troops to defend.

Six out of Qishan, each time no more than 50,000 people.

In the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, you can't find the content of the Seven Captures of Meng.

"Seven Captures and Seven Verticals"

The earliest origin is the "Huayang National Chronicles" volume 4 "Nanzhong Chronicles".

In addition, there is also a brief record in the "Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Zhuge Liang" in the "Han Jin Spring and Autumn Period".

However, there is no direct record in the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Chronicles, and the Biography of Zhuge Liang", "The List of Teachers", and the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Chronicles", Volume 13, "The Biography of Li Hui and Lu Kai", which led the army at that time.

The Northern Song Dynasty's "Zizhi Tongjian" mentions: Meng was "captured by seven and seven verticals, and Liang Yu was sent to stop, and he couldn't stop, saying: "Gong, Tianwei is also, and the southerners are no longer fighting." Obviously, it adopted the record of "Huayang National Chronicles". Whether the historians after Chen Shou discovered new information and made up for the shortcomings of the "Three Kingdoms", or whether they were recorded in the annals of history only based on legends, needs to be further studied by historians.