"Qi's martial arts, you can't meet Wei's martial arts", this sentence in "Xunzi. Yibing" named two of the four powerful armies of the Warring States period. Compared with "Qin Zhizhi" and "Zhao Zhijingqi", Wei Wuzu was mainly active in the early and middle of the Warring States period. In the battle between Yin and Jin, Wei Wuzu, led by Wu Qi, brutally abused the 500,000 troops of the Qin army with 50,000 troops, winning with less, and becoming famous in one battle. It proves Wu Qi's argument about "not many soldiers, but governance".
魏武妻
However, such a strong soldier declined in the middle and late Warring States period. It was hit by Qi, Qin and other countries, and finally withdrew from the battlefield of the Warring States hegemony. Why? The analysis of the decline of Wei Wuzu requires an analysis of the factors and characteristics of the rise of this branch.
Wei Wu’s powerful cornerstone
At the turn of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, the geographical pattern of the Central Plains changed drastically. Jin, the overlord who had dominated the Central Plains for more than 100 years, was disintegrated. After the three divisions of Zhao, Wei and Han in Shanxi, the Wei State from which was born was relatively weak, but the domestic conservative forces were also very weak. Therefore, Wei Wenhou began to vigorously recruit talents and appointed Li Li as the prime minister, kicking off the prelude to the reform. The Li Di reform was the first nationwide thorough reform in the pre-Qin period, and its deepening far exceeded the Bailixi and Guanzhong reforms in the Spring and Autumn Period. Since then, the Wu Qi Reform and Shang Yang Reform were implemented based on the Li Li Reform.
李悝 Reform
The Li Piao Reform also involves the reform of the military system. Through the selection and selection mode, the soldiers are divided into different teams according to the different characteristics of the soldiers, so as to maximize This is the origin of the "armed pawn system". When Wu Qi was in charge of military affairs, he further formed an elite army of soldiers, and mobilized the soldiers' loyalty and combat effectiveness through permanent land rewards and social status. In the early years of the Warring States Period, the State of Wei occupied a large amount of arable land in the Heluo Plain, with more land and fewer people. It was able to supply sufficient Wei military troops and had the advantages of natural conditions, which ensured the normal operation of the Wei military military system.
Wei Wuzu’s record and characteristics
After Wu Qi reformed the military system, he encouraged Wei Wuzu by means of land rewards and promotion of officers and ranks. It was essentially the model of the military system, which had a great impact on the land. rely. In the ancient farming society, land was the basis for people to settle down and live their lives, which stimulated a large number of soldiers from the State of Wei to join the elite army. However, Wei Wu's selection requirements are extremely high, and not every Wei's soldier can meet the standard.
Wei Wuzu soldier costume
In the selection and training of Wei Wuzu, Wu Qi required them to wear full armor (wearing an iron helmet and wearing three layers of armor: Upper body armor, thigh armor, trap armor), holding a 12-stone crossbow (about 720 kg today), carrying 50 arrows, and carrying a long weapon and a short weapon sword, carrying a ration for 3 days, and traveling 200 miles a day. Wei Wuzu basically belongs to the standards of the special forces, and because of this, this force also has high requirements for the quality of commanders. Under the commander of Wu Qi, Wei Wuzuo made a remarkable achievement of "72 wars, 64 victories, and the rest (regardless of victory or defeat)". Created a domineering career for Wei.
Factors affecting military strength in the era of cold weapons
In the era of cold weapons in ancient times, princes must improve their military strength in order to fight for hegemony, and there are roughly 6 factors that enhance the combat capabilities of the army.
①, recruit more troops, expand the size of the army;
②, upgrade equipment, carry out technological innovation;
③, strengthen training, enhance the quality of soldiers;
④, battlefield sharpening, accumulation Combat experience;
⑤, select talents, appoint commanders and warriors who are good at command;
⑥, establish stable logistics supplies.
Wu Qi commanded the troops and was invincible
Wei Wuzuo occupied all the factors in the early stage of the Warring States period, except for the recruitment of troops. How could he not be invincible!
The decline of Wei Wuzuo
The decline of Wei Wuzuo is not overnightBut it was accompanied by a series of internal and diplomatic mistakes of Wei in the middle of the Warring States period and the rise of neighboring countries. Due to the high cost of cultivating a Wei Wu pawn, as the generations of old soldiers retired and the new generation of Wei Wu pawns took over, the Wei Wu pawns that Wei needs to support are becoming larger and larger, which seriously consumes the amount of cultivated land in Wei. The economic potential is unsustainable. Even the war dead, Wei Wuzuo, after he was selected, has determined that the land and title and other benefits are permanently valid, so from the beginning, Wei Wuzu needs to open up more land through continuous conquests to maintain Wei's military merits. The operation of the system.
Wei attack Qin Hexi battle
When Wu Qi commanded Wei Wudi, he had successively fought, defeated Qi and Qin one after another, and grabbed the land of Qin Hexi. However, the high frequency of wars made the Wei Wu pawns have a high proportion of battle losses. The old and new Wei pawns were mixed together. In the later stage, the more prone to unskilled cooperation and uneven combat capabilities and experience of the gentry, which greatly affected This helped the troops organize their combat effectiveness. In addition, following the changes in the Wei State, Wu Qi later left Wei State. This was a big blow to Wei Wuzu, but it did not completely weaken his own strength. However, along with the turmoil in Wei’s internal affairs, there were also diplomatic errors. In order to solve the situation where the newly acquired land was mostly enclaves, Wei changed the national policy of relying on the three Jins to dominate, and instead began to cannibalize the kingdom of Zhao and South Korea. It caused the collapse of the Sanjin Alliance and gave Qi the opportunity to take advantage of it. More importantly, the Wei Guochaotang at this time could no longer accommodate the two great talents Pang Juan and Sun Bin. In the end, Sun Bin played for Qi and defeated Pang Juan in the battle of Ma Ling and Guiling. Wei Wuzu suffered a certain loss.
In the early period of the Warring States period, the enclaves of the Wei Kingdom
Pang Juan’s failure was a big blow to Wei Wushun. Due to limited land resources, it was difficult for Wei Wushou who suffered huge battle losses to replenish his troops. . More importantly, the countries at this time have followed the example of Wei Wenhou in recruiting talents, and the talents of the Wei state are showing signs of withering. After the Qin State experienced the Shang Yang Reform, the military system was reformed on the basis of Wei Wuzuo, that is, through battlefield military service (Wei Wuzuo can enjoy benefits after strict selection), and obtain hereditary title through the military service system , This is Qin Ruishi. After the rise of Qi and Qin, the vast plain terrain of the Wei Kingdom became a battlefield for enemy troops. The land area is shrinking. Not only is it unable to maintain the operation of Wei's special forces, even the logistics of ordinary troops have begun to have problems. . At this point, Wei Wuzu completely declined.
魏军兵败
In summary, Wei Wuzuo was in the early stage of the Warring States period when the heroes were insufficient, and Wei relied on its superior land advantage and small resistance to reform. , Through reforms to strengthen and strive to govern the formation of an army and gallop on the battlefield. However, as the countries changed their laws to become stronger and Wei's internal affairs and diplomacy became short-sighted and increasingly rigid, Wei Wuzu eventually lost many advantages. Even the geographical advantage that Wei had relied on for hegemony has evolved into the predicament of the "land of the four wars" and has been repeatedly bullied by surrounding powers.
Through the rise and decline of Wei Wuzu, we can find that enlightened and far-sighted policies contribute to the development of the cause. And when a country’s politics is becoming more conservative and becoming more immediate interests, even if it holds a strong army, it will not last.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-