My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 352 One step to get it right

The Yulin and Huben schools were expanded into an army!
This was actually not shocking news to people inside and outside the Chang'an court.

——As early as when Liu Rong was named Crown Prince and established the Yulin and Huben schools as the exclusive armed forces for the crown prince, it was foreseeable that these two schools would be expanded into armies.

When talking about the expansion of the Yulin and Huben schools, we have to mention the ten-five system that the Han Dynasty inherited from the Qin Dynasty and is still using today.

The ten-five system is also privately called the two-five system.

As the name suggests, the cyclical number series of '25' is used as the base number for the military organization.

Five people form a 'Wu' - the chief officer Wuzhang, also known as Wubai;

Erwu, that is, ten people form a "shi" - the chief officer is also called the shichang, also known as the ten-man leader;
Wushi, that is, fifty people form a "tun" - the chief officer is the tun chief;
Two tuns, that is, one hundred people form a "Qu" - the chief officer, Qu Hou, is also known as the general of a hundred people.

In the military, most of those tough guys who have big breasts but no brains, who don't have much tactical skills but have extraordinary personal fighting power, hold this position.

Well, Liu Rong has always felt that Li Guang is an excellent Quhou, that is, a general of a hundred men...

The same analogy can be drawn based on the cardinality of "two-five": five groups form a "team", with 500 soldiers, and the chief officer is also called Sima.
When one reaches the level of Captain Sima, he is considered a middle to high-level general and will be privately called a minor general. If one is a little shameless, he can barely be called "minor general".

Two teams form a "school", with 1,000 soldiers and a captain as the chief officer;

This is a real lieutenant general, who is fully qualified to be called "the lowest general" and is a senior general with independent command power in wartime.

Five schools formed a "unit", with 5,000 soldiers and a chief officer, a duwei.

Most of the time, a "unit" is also called: an army.

The chief officer's official title is Captain So-and-so, also known as General So-and-so.

For example, when the Xiliu Camp was first established, Zhou Yafu's official position was Lieutenant and Commander of Xiliu.

The founder of Feihu Army: Ling Mian's position during his lifetime was Feihu Duwei and General of Chariots and Cavalry.

The term "buqu" that is often heard by people in later generations originated from the two organizational units of bu and qu in this organizational system.

It is hard not to feel puzzled when learning about the military organization system of the Han Dynasty: the 25 system - especially the full strength of 1,000 colonels and 5,000 lieutenants.

A thousand people make up a school?
Five thousand people form a unit, that is, an army?
Right?
——The Northern Army has seven colonels, and each colonel has two thousand men, a total of fourteen thousand men!

According to the standard of 5,000 people per unit, the Northern Army can almost gather three "units", that is, three armies!

The Feihu Army and the now defunct Xiliu Camp also had - the Feihu Eight Schools had 16,000 men, and the Xiliu Six Schools had 12,000 men!

Regardless of the staffing standards of 'one thousand people per school' or 'five thousand people per unit', the Northern Army, Feihu Army, and Xiuli Camp are all seriously overstaffed!

Not to mention the Northern Army, after all, they are the only truly imperial army of the Han Dynasty, so it is understandable that they are overstaffed.

Why are the Feihu Army and Xiuli Camp also like this?

In fact, the Han army was organized strictly according to the "ten-five system".

There must be a thousand people in one school!

It would take five thousand people to make one film!
But the imperial guards and the standing field army are exceptions.

The Northern Army, Feihu Army, Juzhu Army, as well as the three ancient camps of Xiliu, Bashang and Jimen, all enjoyed the privilege of over-staffing on the basis of the establishment prescribed by the ten-five system.

But it is not a disorderly super-organization;

Instead, it is extremely unified: the "school" staff was uniformly increased from 1,000 to 2,000.

At the 'department' level, the prescribed five schools will be expanded to six to eight schools based on specific needs.

As for the reason, it is actually easy to understand.

——Below the "school" level, the system of ten and five inherited by the Han Dynasty from the Qin Dynasty can still demonstrate its organizational superiority!
Although it was not as advanced as the three-three system of the Chinese infantry units in the new era in later generations, the basic combat organization with fives as combat groups and squads, that is, two squads or so for cover, was still extremely advanced in that era.

The combat group is composed of five squads, and the ten squads, that is, two squads on the left and right, provide cover;

The tun is the basic action unit, and the qu is the lowest level tactical execution unit;

The team is the lowest level tactical mission execution unit.

From the lowest level "five" to the "team" of 500 people, this organizational system is perfect - at least it is extremely suitable for the Chinese army, which is still in the era of cold weapons.

But from a "team" of 500 people to a "school" of 1,000 people, the loopholes in this system began to gradually become apparent.

As mentioned in the previous article: In the war, the Han army's combat method was to use the "wu" as a combat group, and the "shi" was composed of two wus that took turns to cover each other.

A troop of fifty people will work with another troop of the same group to cover each other on a larger battlefield.

Just like a five-man combat team, with two teams covering each other - a fifty-man combat team plus, with two combat teams plus covering each other.

At the team level of 500 people, this is no longer the case.

——As a unit with independent action capabilities on the battlefield, the team often needs to execute tactical orders independently.

Moreover, the actions of the two "teams" are no longer to cover each other, but to complete a tactical goal independently.

For example, in a war, if you encounter a lone enemy force, the Han generals will most likely immediately give the order: Team A, attack head-on!

Team B and Team C make a flanking move!
Team D will stay in the center to prevent any accidents!
The key is here.

——On the battlefield, if you want to complete frontal assaults, flanking and other actions against an enemy force, while ensuring that the central army has a garrison and does not send out all the troops, you need at least four teams of 500 people!

Moreover, such battles are often not led by the chief officers at the "department" level: the captain, who leads a unit of 5,000 people, but by the captains.

The captains at the department level, that is, the generals, would gesture at the map in the military tent and then formulate a general strategy such as so-and-so school will attack here and so-and-so school will attack there.

The ones who actually went to war and conducted front-line command, especially those who responded to emergencies on the battlefield, were the captains.

Knowing this, it is not difficult to understand the Han army's "school" level organization. Why, although it can only have two teams with a total of one thousand people, the imperial guards and field armies were uniformly over-organized into four teams with a total of two thousand people.

——If there are only two teams, the only two military orders the captain can issue when facing the enemy are: Team A covers the front army, and Team B retreats for the rear army, and they take turns to cover the withdrawal!
Or it can be simple and direct: Team A attacks and Team B stays on defense.

But with four teams, there is a lot more room for command.

You can do it like the example above, with one team charging head-on, two teams flanking, and one team left in case of an emergency;
Or you can surround your own central army from the front, back, left and right, set up a tortoise shell formation and wait for the enemy to charge.

As for why the Han people still retain the organizational system of "two teams into one school" instead of directly changing it to "four teams into one school", it is because: both have their merits.

——Two teams make up a school, which is sufficient for temporary organization during wartime.

Because the soldiers were temporarily organized, most of the time they had to guard the city and the camp.

One team fights and one team rotates, that's enough.

And four teams form a school, which better meets the needs of the imperial guards and the standing field army.

Therefore, the theoretical rule of two teams to a school was retained and became the organization rule adopted by the county troops and temporary troops during war. The imperial guards and standing field armies with additional needs also received the privilege of four teams to a school.

There are 1,000 people in one school, and the overstaffing is 2,000 people in one school. A more accurate statement is actually: there are two teams in one school, and the overstaffing is four teams in one school.

The doubling of overstaffing at the school level has been clarified;
The chaotic overstaffing at the department, or 'army' level, is another matter.

——The school-level team was expanded from two to four teams because more independent combat units are needed in wartime to carry out more tactical dispatches.

As for the department, that is, the "army" level, the expansion from five schools in principle to six to eight schools as appropriate is a question of military branch.

Like the former, the stipulation of 'one unit and five schools' in the system of ten and five is the standard for the organization of county soldiers and temporary forces in wartime.

The reason is simple: front, back, left, right, and center.

A duwei, that is, an army, needs five lieutenants to serve as the vanguard of the front army, the left and right wings, and the rear army and the center army, whether it is on the march or after setting up camp.

The reason why the Imperial Guards and the Standing Field Army need to add one to three more colonels in addition to these five colonels is to make up for the deficiencies in the military.

It is like the eight schools of Feihu, which are divided into: Material Officer Giant Shield;
longbow shooting sound;

A strong crossbow can collapse a mountain;

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Sword and Shield;

Spear and halberd;

Archer Cavalry;

Light cavalry;

And then set up camp.

There are eight divisions of colonels in total, covering light and heavy infantry, light and archer cavalry, archers and crossbowmen, and even engineers.

It covers almost all arms in the known world, and all kinds of standard weapons currently equipped by the Han Dynasty;
This means that the Feihu Army, which has these eight captains and all types of troops, can deal with enemies of any type on its own and will not be suppressed by the enemy's troops.

To put it bluntly: as the imperial guards and the standing field army, it is normal to face the enemy alone.

When the critical moment comes, it is impossible to find a type of soldier that you don't have to solve your urgent needs.

——The significance of the existence of your imperial guards and standing field army is to solve the urgent needs of the Han family!
If you come across another urgent need, then there's no point in playing, it will be destroyed.

The eight schools of Feihu Army are like this, and the seven schools of the Northern Army are basically the same, except for the lack of Suiying.

However, the Northern Army was stationed in Chang'an, and had craftsmen from the Shaofu ready to be used at any time. Unlike the Feihu Army, which was stationed in the uninhabited area of ​​Feihu Stream, it did not need to provide its own engineers.

The six schools of the now defunct Xiuliying, like the Feihu Army, had one school called Suiying.

The six battalions of Xiuliying are compared with the eight battalions of Feihu Army. The two missing battalions are archers and light cavalry.

no way.

During the reign of Emperor Taizong, the situation of the Han Dynasty was such that equipping 4,000 cavalrymen, let alone 4,000 horses, would definitely be a national problem.

The two cavalry captains of the Feihu Army, with a total of 4,000 cavalrymen, were finally trained after the Battle of Pingcheng by Emperor Taizu Gao, who gave all the more than 10,000 Hun war horses seized on the battlefield or captured after the war to Ling Mian.

After understanding the above, let’s take a look at Liu Rong’s two schools, Yulin and Huben.

From the very beginning, Liu Rong used 500 people as the first batch of soldiers, and successively expanded the two armed forces to 2,000 people respectively, and established the organization of 'four teams and one school'. In fact, Liu Rong's intentions can be seen.

This is the organization of the imperial guards and the standing field army.

Now, Liu Rong wanted to expand the Yulin Army and Huben Army on the basis of the Yulin Colonel and Huben Colonel;

Whether to develop into an integrated force of all arms like the Northern Army, Feihu Army and Xiuli Camp, or to develop into a single arms group, is a headache for Liu Rong.

——All arms, able to deal with any problem in war;
But if it is used as an imperial guard, it doesn't seem necessary to have too many types of soldiers.

The situation of the Northern Army is different.

The army was expanded and sent out every few days, either to Guandong to quell rebellions, or to the south to suppress the Baiyue, or to the north wall to support the border defense.

In Liu Rong's opinion, a true imperial guard does not actually require that many types of soldiers.

What does the Imperial Guard need cavalry for?
What is the use of Ge Mao?
At the very least, archers are not needed, right?
After all, the duty of the Imperial Guards is to guard the capital and the palace when necessary;
A situation where the imperial guards would be required to perform cavalry archery is unlikely to occur.

After a brief thought, Liu Rong had a preliminary idea.

——The Caiguan Giant Shield, as the front-line tank of the Han army, is necessary to exist in the imperial guards.

But there is no need to specialize in holding up a giant shield taller than a person to serve as the front row, but instead they can evolve into heavy infantry.

For example: wearing full body armor and equipped with long-handled heavy weapons.

Liu Rong needs to think again about the specific method of evolution.

Then there are the crossbow troops - there is no need to split them into bows and crossbows. Skilled archers can be equipped with an extra crossbow.

You can switch between bow and crossbow freely according to the situation, and you can also continue to use the crossbow to maintain firepower after the bow becomes weak.

Now that we have heavy infantry and long-range firepower, light infantry is simple - swords, shields, halberds, and spears can be directly combined into: armored soldiers!

Wearing armor and holding swords, they were already a very elite light infantry force in this era.

They may not even be considered light infantry!

cavalry……

Okay, Liu Rong was willing to compromise and keep a cavalry captain.

But don't differentiate between archers and light cavalry - just equip the cavalry with long swords and crossbows, and treat them as mobile forces.

That's about it.

Heavy infantry, light infantry, archers, cavalry - four types of troops, which are already a bit complicated for the imperial guards.

Based on the existing advantages, or specialties, of the Yulin and Huben schools - if Yulin had two more archery lieutenants and Huben had two more heavy infantry lieutenants, the problem would be solved.

The organization is also simple: Yulin and Huben each have eight schools, with a total of 16,000 people!
A total of 32,000 imperial guards are enough.

In addition to the Yulin and Huben, Liu Rong's plan to set up a new standing field army in the Hetao area made people inside and outside the court feel dry and thirsty.

——A pure cavalry army!

——A comprehensive army with all arms!
Whether it is the unprecedented former or the latter which is no different from the Feihu Army, it is enough to make every aspiring meritorious official and court official crazy for the selection of the chief generals of these two duwei armies!
However, no one knew that Liu Rong, the commander of these two standing field armies, had already made up his mind.

The first pure cavalry army of the Han Dynasty: The Commander of Shuofang, headed by Han Tuidang, Marquis of Gonggao!
As for the Han Dynasty's real "second Flying Fox Army" - Hexi Commandery, it was held by Bowang Marquis: Cheng Bushi...

(End of this chapter)