Chapter 565 Ancient Population to Army Ratio

In ancient times, the ratio of population to army was clearly defined.

Especially the people of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, after a long period of social practice, they summed up a set of scientific proportional methods.

If a country has too many troops, the country cannot afford it and does not have the financial resources to feed the army.

But? If you don't have a certain number of troops, you can't protect the country's security.

Especially the small vassal states, their comprehensive national strength is small, and you are vulnerable in front of the big vassal states. You just pull all the labor force to replenish it, and the military power cannot confront the big powers. It is also very easy for the big vassal states to destroy you.

This time! The kings of the small princes will have to use their brains, and they will have to have good relations with the big countries. Find a backer, find a backer you can rely on. And then! Give the corresponding benefits to the backers.

It is equivalent to the modern society that collects protection money, spending money to avoid disasters.

If you don't pull a dime, you'll be on your own. When you are in trouble, there will be no one to help you, and your nation will soon perish.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, many small vassal states, because of the incompetence of the king, either picked the door or were self-righteous, or counted on the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. At last! It was destroyed early by other countries.

It will not be flexible, it will not adapt to the changes in social ideology, and it will be eliminated.

Later, it became dozens of vassal states, and became the "Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons" and "Warring States Seven Heroes".

No matter whether you are looking for a backer or not, no matter how big or small your country is, you must have a certain number of troops. At least! You have the forces to protect the capital. As long as your kingdom is not destroyed, your throne will continue.

Because! When someone goes to war against you, he will pay the price. If his national power is empty, other vassal states may take advantage of the troubled waters.

So! The minor princes only need to maintain the strength of the protectorate capital and major checkpoints on the basis of good diplomatic relations.

Because others don't dare to bully you too much, and if he bullies you too much, you also have a certain amount of strength to fight against him. You can consume his military strength and comprehensive national strength, and others can take advantage of the troubled waters to fish and weaken his comprehensive national strength.

So! If he wants to attack you, he will take a certain risk. If diplomatic relations are not handled well, his country may go into decline.

So! Princes and kings with a little brains do not start wars easily.

One of the reasons why King Wei Hui likes to wage war is that! Wei's comprehensive national strength is strong, and its population can be.

Two! He has the means to manage the diplomatic relations of various countries.

If he wants to beat you, he will inevitably find a reason to "be famous". And then! Do a good job of diplomatic relations and cut off your reinforcements.

Three! He has a great general Pang Juan who can win battles.

In fact! His subordinates not only have military talents, but also other military talents. For example, Long Jia is also a military wizard. In the past, Wei Ying's master, Uncle Acne, was also a person with military talent. In the Wei State, there were far more than these military talents who could fight.

It was precisely because King Wei Hui had capable people under him who could fight that he bred the idea and practice of "raising troops with war and strengthening the country with war".

In general, in normal countries and relatively large countries, such as the Warring States Seven Heroes, the ratio of population to army is particular.

First of all! You must have enough troops to prevent invasion by a country as powerful as you. How many troops come over from others, how many troops you can pull out to fight.

Second! You have to be very diplomatic. You don't have diplomacy, and when your forces are put into the frontal battlefield, others will take advantage of the situation and weaken your overall national strength.

When the time comes! You have to cede the land for peace, or other means of reparation to quell the war.

Under normal circumstances, a country does not have a surplus of troops.

What do you mean by extra troops?

Actually, it is! There are only so many people in your country, and they all go to the army, and the food can't keep up. Food production cannot meet the needs of the army, this is redundancy.

The normal ratio is that the people who farm the land in your country produce enough food to supply the army. The best-case scenario is that it not only satisfies the supply of the army, but also accumulates a surplus to deal with natural and man-made disasters.

And in the period of development of a country, the number of troops must be smaller. The state has adopted the role of tax leverage, so that farmers can pay less taxes on a variety of grains, and promote farmers' willingness to have children.

In the Cold Weapon Age, population was productivity.

As long as there are kings with a little brain, they will develop not the army, but the productive forces (population) first. Because! Population is productivity.

During the period of population development, we must keep a low profile and pretend to be forced. You can't start a war, you can't make a war with people. Be sure to spend money to eliminate the disaster.

Wait until the population goes up before you can develop your military power.

Just like after Qin Xiaogong came to power, he reused the Shang Dynasty to develop productive forces and population. On the one hand, he pretended to be forced in front of King Wei Hui and had good relations with other countries. Especially to do a good job with the state of Chu and find a backer.

On the surface! Qin was still a weak and poor country. In fact! The country is developing rapidly. The population has gone up, the grain has gone up, and the overall national strength has also gone up.

And then! The "Battle of the Rise" was launched. After expanding a large area of land, he pretended to be forced to hide his strength.

Right now! The problem encountered by Shang Ying and Qin Xiaogong was that the population had risen, the number of troops had also kept up, and there was a surplus of food. But! But there is no money to equip the army.

Same as last time! The cavalry was trained, but the cavalry had no horses or weapons.

When the cavalry was trained, they used other people's horses, weapons, and armor.

The Qin State is poor, and it has been poor to this extent.

The current state of Qin! There are soldiers, there is food, but there is no money to equip the army.

Other than that! The army that the Qin State is equipped with must be thrown into battle. Otherwise! What are you raising so many soldiers for? Eating for nothing?

If it's for nothing, it's better not to raise it. Let them go home and farm, let them go home and develop the population. Isn't it?

Other words! At this time, if there was no external support, Shang Ying and Qin Xiaogong would be tossed in vain. If all the money is taken out for military equipment, then! The state will only be more deprived of money.

If Qin Xiaogong ran out of money, there would be soldiers left who didn't even have food to eat, and there would definitely be chaos within the Qin State. Someone will definitely take the opportunity to civil strife and seize the throne of Qin.

You, Qin Xiaogong and Shang Ying, think about serving the country, the people, and the people of the world, but those who want to seize power in troubled times don't have such a far-sighted vision. What they see is: Can you be a king? Is it possible to live a more luxurious life?

As for the future! Even the inheritance of their children and grandchildren, the question of the king's position, they don't care. They also have a reason to say: Lao Tzu brought down the country, but you disdainful descendants did not defend it. It's not that Lao Tzu is short-sighted, it's that you don't have the ability!

In fact! It's them in troubled times! In order to achieve their own personal goals, they do not care about the life and death of the people.

Because of the overlap with the content of "The Story of Zhuangzi", the content of the Taoist Song had to be skipped.

(End of chapter)