In the long river of history, the Warring States period has always been depicted as a magnificent picture of war, and the scale of the war with hundreds of thousands of people at every turn is staggering. However, when we try to find out what the actual scale of the war during the Warring States period really looked like, we find that things are not so simple.
The system of conscription, in which all the people are conscripted, seems to provide the prerequisites for large-scale war. However, when we dig deeper into the actual situation behind this system, we find that this is not the case. Taking the State of Qi as an example, although Linzi has a large population recorded in the Warring States Policy, it is a huge challenge to actually support the population of such a large-scale city.
In addition, we have to take into account the level of productivity and transportation conditions at the time. Even in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty a thousand years later, the population of Tang Chang'an City was only more than 1 million. During the Warring States Period, Linzi was only the capital of the vassal states, but it had to face the pressure of war. Under such circumstances, can the population size of Linzi reach one-third of that of Tang Chang'an City? Obviously this is not possible.
Therefore, we cannot simply take the numbers in the history books as real demographic data. In fact, there is a lot of moisture in the population data of the Warring States period, and the actual population should be much lower than the figure of 25 million to 30 million.
Therefore, when we re-examine the scale of the war during the Warring States period, we must have a more rigorous attitude and more in-depth research. Only in this way can we more accurately understand what that era really looked like, and not be fooled by exaggerated figures. Let's take a step back and think, even if the population was really so large during the Warring States period, could countries really mobilize such large armies? The answer is clearly no.
Taking the Qin State as an example, let's analyze it in detail. Assuming that the total population of Qin is 6.5 million, with a balanced ratio of men and women, then the male population is 3.25 million. If we further assume that 75% of all men are between the ages of 15 and 60, then there are about 227 men who are eligible to join the military50 thousand. However, that's not all. We must take into account the clans, officials, lizheng, elders, special occupations, and people with disabilities, who are not required to serve in the military. If we start with this 227Subtract these people from the 50,000 people, and the maximum number of people who actually meet the criteria is only 1.8 million.
Of course, not all of these 1.8 million people will be called up to fight. In ancient times, only one adult male was needed per family to serve, while the rest continued to engage in productive activities in their hometowns. As a result, only a third of the 1.8 million people will need to do military service at most, or 600,000.
So, if Qin's standing army really has 600,000 people, then in the "Battle of Changping", can Qin send 600,000 troops? If all the soldiers were sent to the front, wouldn't there be a need for troops to defend the localities? Moreover, the consumption of food and materials by the 600,000-strong army on the front line is enormous, which is obviously not something that a few million people can afford. Therefore, we can conclude that the scale of the wars of the Warring States period was grossly exaggerated.
In fact, exaggeration of the scale of the war was widespread in the historical sources of the time. For example, in the large-scale battles of the Qin state recorded in the "Historical Records" from 364 BC to 234 BC, there were 14 times when the number of enemies killed exceeded 20,000, and 4 times exceeded 100,000, of which the "Battle of Changping" killed 400,000 Zhao troops. If we calculate according to these figures, the Qin state killed and wounded nearly 1.5 million enemies in a period of 130 years. So, in these 130 years, how many people did the Qin state itself lose? "Kill a thousand enemies, lose eight hundred", even if the Qin army is particularly capable of fighting, ** 1 million is inevitable. However, the strange thing is that the later period, the more troops the Qin State dispatched, which obviously does not conform to the law of population.
A similar situation also appeared in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty in the "Siege of Baideng". According to the records of the "Historical Records", Mao Dunshan Yu led 400,000 elite soldiers to besiege Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, in Baishan Mountain. This history paints a thrilling picture, but we need to think deeply about some of these details.
First of all, we have to take into account the productivity and living environment of the north at that time. At that time, the assembly of 400,000 troops required adequate logistical support and resource support. However, considering that the Xiongnu were a nomadic people, their productivity and resources were very limited. Therefore, it is indeed doubtful whether the figure of 400,000 troops is accurate.
In addition, we need to consider the influence of the political environment and the personal likes and dislikes of historians on the historical record. Even in the canonical history, there are sometimes some biases. Therefore, we cannot accept all the records in the history books without discernment, but need to conduct in-depth analysis and discernment.
History is the crystallization of the wisdom of our predecessors, and it has provided us with many valuable experiences and lessons. However, we must not just stay on the surface of history, but need to dig deeper into its connotation and value. Only in this way can we truly understand history and draw wisdom and inspiration from it.
In real life, we often encounter various questions and challenges, and at this time, we can look for answers and inspirations from historical events. By "learning from history", we can better understand various scenarios and problems in real life, so that we can better respond to and solve them. Therefore, history has infinite benefits and value for our lives.