Although Guo Kang has been thinking about it all these years, trying to summarize the theory of military development, he has gradually given up after a long time. Because he thinks that there is no point in forcibly generalizing.

In reality, the military system is not too "advanced" and "backward," but more "suitable" and "unsuitable." There are too many factors influencing the outcome of the operation, and it is meaningless to forcibly draw an "advanced" yardstick, and it will even lead to ridiculous conclusions.

For example, the same officer selection system, and the contract system at the same time, the rules of the Qing Dynasty were much more "advanced". The main source of officers in the Qing army was promotion between ranks and martial arts examinations. Among them, he was promoted to the "right path" for his military career and military exploits. Ordinary soldiers can really be generals if they have excellent combat records. And this was almost unthinkable in much of Europe at the same time.

Although the sons of the nobles exist, they are far less numerous than these two. Compared with the British army, which buys officials per capita and almost all of them are old aristocrats, no matter how you look at it, it should be that the Qing army is more "advanced".

Moreover, even if the Qing army is corrupt and there may be problems with the promotion system, it is still corruption under the bureaucratic system. The British don't have to think about the concept of corruption at all - spending money to buy officials is legal, the entire army is also outsourced, and the concept of corruption and bribery has lost its meaning.

Therefore, if it is divided in this way, the organization of the Qing army is obviously more advanced. It stands to reason that the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty should be inspired by the advanced system, actively fight, and drive Yingyi into the sea in one fell swoop. But the actual result, everyone knows......

Moreover, the Qing army was not only so vulnerable in the face of foreigners. It's an old problem.

During the Qianlong period, Wang Lun, the leader of the Qingshui Sect in Shandong, led the people to revolt. In the vicinity of Linqing County, the Qing army encountered the rebel army. The Qing army consisted of 250 Dezhou Eight Banners, 250 Green Battalion soldiers, and the Righteous Army consisted of 6 or 700 people, mainly local peasants.

At the beginning of the battle, the Qing army tried to outflank the two flanks, and the rebels divided into three teams and launched a charge, cutting the Qing army into two sections in one fell swoop, and the Qing army immediately broke up and the battle ended.

Afterwards, the Qing court conducted an investigation and found that among the 250 bannermen, 46 were killed, more than 80 fled back after the war, and the remaining 120 or so were missing, which is estimated to have fled while the chaos was lost; Of the 250 people in the Green Battalion, 9 were killed, seven or eight fled back after the battle, and the rest of the 230 people were gone. According to the confessions of the prisoners of the rebels who were arrested afterwards, they believed that they had killed more than 10 people and killed 50 or 60 officers and soldiers. The data on both sides can be matched.

And this is still the level of the Qianlong period, when the Qing Dynasty was still strong.

By the 19th century, even if the Zulus came to fight the Qing Dynasty, if they had the mobility of the British fleet, it would not be a problem to win a few battles. Of course, you have to leave quickly after the fight. After all, these people are relatively special-looking, and they may be mistaken for wild monsters by the villagers and exterminated......

The Qing Dynasty has a lot of archival records, rich preservation data, and it happens to be a special era, which leads to a lot of "magical" phenomena, which can be called stereotype breakers. From here, it is not difficult to see how rich the influencing factors for the war will be.

Therefore, it is not a reliable way to set up a concept of "modernity" or "modernity", and then simply find a few definitions and label those that meet the definitions as "advanced". Forcibly making up for these "advanced natures" is not necessarily reliable, and may even have a negative impact.

This example is even easier to find.

For example, in the eyes of Seris's art of war, restraining soldiers, strictly enforcing the barracks environment, and prohibiting prostitutes from entering and leaving are one of the signs of strict discipline and can be regarded as "advanced".

However, when the French army abolished the prostitutes, there were many voices of concern and opposition. For the French army, this was not strict discipline, but only allowed the soldiers to go outside the barracks on their own to have fun. It not only increases the risk of disease, but also undermines discipline and even causes conflicts with the local people because of the nuisance of the resident women. In this way, it is obvious that the gains outweigh the losses.

Therefore, which one is advanced depends on the specific situation to determine.

"The armies of different civilizations, the situation is too different." In the end, Guo Kang could only say: "I have always felt that the characteristics of civilization determine the political system, and the political system determines the military system. On top of the existing military system, there are those components such as training and formations. And these parts should also be subordinated to more basic characteristics and institutions, including local conditions and technical levels, in order to achieve better results. ”

"Civilization and politics, those are too complicated, let's start with the most obvious places." He gave an example: "If you have read the book of war, you should know that Ibaminda, Iphicrates, Philip II, and Alexander knew the development and changes of the early army, right?" ”

Joanna hesitated, but had to admit, "I only know Alexander and his son. Oh, I also know Hannibal and Caesar and the like......"

"Very good, your understanding of military theory has surpassed that of the vast majority of European soldiers." Guo Kang scratched his head and encouraged: "Then we can continue." ”

"The armies of the classical era were arranged horizontally. Their fronts are much wider than their depth. The Greeks were particularly typical in this regard, and Macedonia and Rome also improved on this basis. Even the Persians were more or less in the same way. Guo Kang briefly introduced and compared: "But in Seris, the military formations of the same period are often vertical. Do you know why there is such a difference? ”

Joanna shook her head and confessed, "I don't know much about Seris's situation. ”

"To put it simply, it's weapons and tactical thinking that affect formations and training methods." Guo Kang didn't let her continue to guess, and said directly: "The army over there, in the more ancient times, also used the Daheng team to fight. For example, in the Shang Dynasty, there were no chariots at the beginning, and this formation was the most common, and it was similar to other civilizations. ”

"When was the Shang Dynasty?" Joanna asked.

"It roughly corresponds to the early New Kingdom of Egypt, that is, the era of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties." Guo Kang told her.

"Oh......" Joanna looked surprised.

"The businessmen themselves call this method of warfare 'pace.'" Guo Kang continued: "Compared with vehicle warfare, this is the more mainstream combat method. ”

"What does that mean?" Joanna's understanding of Chinese doesn't seem to have reached this level.

"To step is to walk, and to cut down is to cut people. Of course, this meaning is not used anymore. Guo Kang explained: "In the late Shang Dynasty, chariots gradually increased. Before, it was mainly foot combat. ”

"The military establishment at that time was also adapted to this structure. Their army was very simple in decimal system, up to a thousand-man brigade, called a 'line'. Then by three thousand people, a 'brigade' was formed. ”

"The ancient word for 'line' is probably the road, the ranks. 'Brigade' means that there are two people under the flag, which means the troops assembled according to the military flag. If you look at this meaning, you can roughly know the situation at that time. Since the infantry was basically stacked to form a formation, there was no more complex formation at that time. ”

"It's amazing that you can still see these meanings in a single word. It's no wonder that Damiano likes these things. Joanna sighed: "However, why do these commonly used Chinese characters mean slashing and war?" I thought that the Chinese word for 'traveling' was just going out to play. ”

"No, that's a partial generalization, only looking at part of the meaning." Guo Kang immediately denied: "The people of the Central Plains have not liked war since ancient times, and they do not advocate hegemony and expansion. ”

"Like the people of the Shang Dynasty, they often took 'steps', 'traveled' around, and eagerly communicated with the locals. Sometimes they are invited back to their hometowns to meet their elders. Obviously, they are very friendly and peaceful people. ”

"Huh? Is that so? Joanna asked stupidly, "Then why do you say that the Seris have the most combat experience?" ”

"It's all infighting." Guo Kang waved his hand and replied: "Infighting cannot be regarded as an expansion war!" Infighting...... Can the affairs of the Seris be considered a war? ”

"Seris was not a feudal state like Europe, but like Rome, it was a universal empire. Internally, there are many regions and many ethnic groups, and although there will be contradictions, they are all temporary. Once the conflict is resolved, everyone will soon be united again. ”

"Don't look at the Ming Dynasty and those remnants of the Yuan Dynasty who fought fiercely, they are actually a person who agrees and fights for the same legitimacy, so they will fight endlessly every day. Moreover, this universal concept is compatible with each other. In the future, if everyone develops, we Rome and them will become one sooner or later. ”

"Well......," said Joanna after a moment's thought, "but the last time I met the merchants from Siam, they complained that the Seris fought every day, and they came to their side. The Yuan regime in Java went to them every day to forcibly expropriate their strategic materials. I don't think they want to unite with the Seris. ”

"Who is so bold as to dare not unite with us?" Guo Kang muttered suspiciously.

Joanna didn't know how to answer for a moment.

"Hey, I accidentally pulled away again." Guo Kang hurriedly said: "In short, you just need to remember this conclusion." The Romans of the time wrote, 'The Seris live in peace, without weapons, and there will never be war.' Quiet and silent in temperament, do not disturb neighbors. I didn't blow it. ”

"Really?" Joanna was a little skeptical: "They can't deliberately brag to each other and deceive other simple and ignorant people, right?" ”

"Rome is so far away from Seris, and there was no contact at that time, can you be guilty of colluding with the barbarians?" Guo Kang pointed out: "You people, who don't even understand the allusions of ancient times, can you know more than Roman scholars? ”

At this point, Joanna was completely speechless.

"Of course, none of this has anything to do with the battle itself." Guo Kang said: "In fact, because he is too peace-loving, Seris's weapons development is relatively out of the way. Weapons such as swords and chariots are said to be foreign products. ”

"But as soon as they learned how to use tanks, they quickly developed their own way of fighting, and eventually the entire military system changed with it."

"The Seris tank is much larger than its Middle Eastern counterparts and is very well positioned. "Liutao" says that there are eight ways to use the chariot to win, and each of them is to "trap", that is, to directly rush into the enemy's formation. ”

"The impact of the chariot on the plains is amazing. You know the Gaugamela fight, right? He asked Joanna.

"I know that." She nodded.

"Darius had only two hundred chariots at Gaugamela, and the quality of the Persian charioteers was extremely poor. When Xenophon went to Persia to fight, he said that these men had almost no training, so that half of them could not stand on their feet in the car themselves, and the car would fall directly when it ran. They are also easily frightened, and many will simply choose to jump out of the vehicle and flee, causing the vehicle to lose control. Guo Kang said: "The same is true of Darius's chariot. The Macedonians terrorized the Persians by beating their shields with their spears, and the charioteers fled in fear. ”

"But even so, the surviving tanks made a splash. On the Macedonian left flank, the remaining part of the 50 tanks managed to open the gap. Diodorus records that the oncoming Macedonian soldiers were immediately torn apart by their chariots, and the others began to flee. The Persian cavalry on the right flank took this opportunity to break through the formation and came to the rear of the ranks. ”

This example is obvious. The training of the Macedonian infantry was not excellent, but most of the soldiers who participated in the war were veterans of several major battles. The depth of the heavy infantry was 16 platoons, and there was a reserve of equal thickness in the rear ready to support. Their spears can also be used to defend against opposing attacks. ”

In the previous and subsequent encounters, this formation was almost impossible to break from the front, and even the Romans were helpless against the weakened heavy infantry later. But in front of the chariot, it still looked too fragile. ”

"Moreover, in this round of impact, there are only fifty vehicles, and there is a lack of cooperation from other arms." Guo Kang shook his head: "This is obviously not a real ability." ”

"And in the war in Seris, the scale of the tank was much larger. Around 600 years before the Tiange Era, the two medium-sized countries of Zheng and Song fought at Great Thorn, and the Song State captured 460 chariots at one time. Around 400 BC, the great power of Qi fought with the Three Jin Dynasty, and after the defeat, the number of chariots captured at one time reached 2,000. By Alexander's time, the major vassal states of the Central Plains often threw thousands of chariots into a single battle. ”

"If they were to be replaced, the Macedonian left flank would have to face a thousand or so chariots, not fifty. The first shock wave was not the impact of a few Persian single chariots that had not been abandoned and run crooked, but at least three hundred to five hundred Central Plains chariots and thousands of armor soldiers running with the chariots. Think about it, in such a situation, can the heavy infantry still play the role of maintaining the battle line? ”

"In that case...... It should be impossible to block. Joanna thought for a moment and said, "But how did the Seris themselves stop it?" ”

"With this kind of pure infantry and thin horizontal team, rest assured, the Seris themselves can't stop it." Guo Kang spread his hands: "Their response method is to use the chariot to resist the chariot, and then pull the military formation thicker and thicker." By the time of the popularization of chariots, the military formation was no longer a horizontal line, but a checkerboard formation with huge depth and staggered arrangement of infantry and chariots. ”

"Because over there, any army formation must first face a question: Can you hold back the charge of a thousand chariots? If it can't be stopped, then no matter how many bells and whistles it has, there is no point. Because no matter how advanced it is theoretically, it can't withstand a round of hard rushes, and it can only be directly vetoed by one vote. ”

"You see, at least here, the Seris and the Mediterranean world, the whole style of warfare, began to be differentiated." He concluded: "But can we say, who is more advanced and worthy of emulation? I don't think so. ”

"If we want to learn from other people's tactics, we first have to understand the environment and the context. Otherwise, this blind comparison is meaningless. I think you have to be clear about that first. ”

(End of chapter)