Chapter 28: The Central Army of the Imperial Court (Part 2)

  Upon hearing this, Xu Shu finally let out a breath of relief. "Oh... I see, so the direct subordinates of the Colonel actually only have one regiment, which is equivalent to the strength of one battalion, but it's also possible for them to lead multiple regiments of soldiers and horses. The specific troops they command are not fixed, and even the basic organization of the army is not fixed, right?"

  "That's right! That's what I mean, the military system of the Han Dynasty didn't have a fixed allocation at all, only a rough official rank system. The actual commander's troops were not fixed either!"

  Upon hearing this, Wang Xu finally smiled. "So, although some county lieutenants and district lieutenants can be called camp lieutenants, in reality they only have a small unit of four hundred men, or even just one company or battalion of soldiers. Therefore, these so-called camp lieutenants are merely local security officials."

  Wang Xu's tone changed, and he immediately continued: "But the central government-appointed school lieutenant is different. Like Changshui School Lieutenant, although there are only a thousand soldiers, but the status is very high. If war breaks out, they may lead tens of thousands of people when they go on an expedition. For example, the Hu Qiang School Lieutenant in the border areas has several thousand to tens of thousands of troops under his command."

  "In some border areas, the troops were still not satisfied with the organization of the troops, and various special affiliation organizations were added. For example, an official position was added between the troops to facilitate the management of large-scale troops. This kind of thing often happened during the Han Dynasty's warlords' mixed warfare, when each warlord had tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of soldiers, so some organizations had to be added, otherwise it would be impossible to manage the army."

  After finishing, Wang Xu smiled and looked at Xu Shu, who was pouting with her long eyelashes blinking. He added: "Moreover, there is the special position of the Metropolitan Commandant, which has already gone beyond the simple category of military officer, with high status and heavy power, even greater than that of the Governor or the Prefect. And it is in charge of managing the capital city and its surrounding areas. So, a titled Commandant and an ordinary Commandant are completely two different concepts!"

  "Oh!" She nodded understandingly, and Xu Shu's bright big eyes turned slyly before asking: "What about ordinary Zhonglang generals? What kind of role are they?"

  "That's a position between the general and the ordinary colonel. Some Zhonglang Jiang had high status, while some were not as good as those with famous titles. In short, the military positions in the Han Dynasty are not necessarily high or low, it depends on what specific powers they have." After explaining so much, Wang Xu couldn't help but lick his lips, and his mouth was dry.

  Unfortunately, he didn't even have time to rest his poor mouth before Curious Baby Xu Shu spoke up again. "Husband, why were there so few soldiers in the Han Dynasty?"

  "Oh! My god!" Faced with Xu Shu's endless sharp questions, Wang Xu pitifully begged for mercy: "Wife, spare me, okay? I'm all talked out, my mouth is dry!"

  "Hehe! No worries, I've got water with me!" Xu Shu smiled mischievously and immediately pulled out a water bottle from behind her back. "For convenience on the march, I prepared this water bottle, haha! Didn't expect to use it now, drink up! Freshly filled just now."

  With a wry smile, Wang Xu took over the water bottle and drank a few mouthfuls in silence, too lazy to continue arguing with her.

  "Well, I'll just say it briefly. However, the reduction of military strength is not one-sided, and if you want to explain it in detail, there are too many factors involved. Simply put, there are several important reasons."

  After a moment of careful consideration, Wang Xu slowly said: "Firstly, you need to know that during the Western Han Dynasty, the imperial court's military strength was extremely powerful. For example, during Emperor Wu of Han's reign, there were as many as 100,000 soldiers in the northern and southern armies, and each region had a commander-in-chief who oversaw local troops. In addition to border defense forces, their actual strength was naturally very strong. However, when the Western Han Dynasty collapsed and Emperor Guangwu rose to power, he began to implement a policy of streamlining the military and reducing the number of soldiers in the central army and local garrisons. The Eastern Han Dynasty continued this policy, even abolishing the position of commander-in-chief in each region, only retaining it in border counties, with officials such as long lü (a type of governor) leading soldiers to defend against invasions."

  "Secondly, the war and natural disasters that occurred between the two Han dynasties were endless, and the population plummeted from over 60 million at the end of the Western Han to around 20-30 million. At this time, in order to ensure the economy and production, it was impossible to recruit a large number of young men again, so a large number of troops were disbanded, and military strength declined sharply."

  "Thirdly, during the Western Han Dynasty, the powerful landlord forces were heavily attacked, and farmers could settle down at home to farm, making it possible for household registration to be used for military recruitment. However, the Eastern Han Dynasty was established relying on the powerful landlords that emerged in the late Western Han period, so the powerful landlords of the Eastern Han Dynasty had an extraordinary influence. This manorial economy caused a large number of farmers to lose their land and become dependent on them, and these people were exempt from serving the state. Therefore, although the population of the Eastern Han Dynasty exceeded that of the Western Han Dynasty with the restoration of agriculture, the number of people who could be directly controlled and recruited by the state decreased."

  "Fourthly, due to the changes in social and economic conditions during the Eastern Han period, the household registration system was completely disrupted, making it impossible to implement a universal conscription system. As a result, the system gradually shifted towards a volunteer-based recruitment system. This led to a situation where the richer the country became, the fewer people enlisted, and the imperial court had no fixed number of soldiers. Of course, these are just general trends, and there were many other reasons as well! Each period also had its own unique circumstances, which I won't elaborate on one by one."

  Unfortunately, Wang Xu's explanation, which he thought was a great achievement, did not receive the treatment it deserved. As soon as Xu Shu finished speaking, she immediately came up with a sentence that made people feel suffocated.

  "Oh, come on! Can't you just give me a hint? I'm not someone who hasn't studied history, and I can think for myself too! This kind of thing usually requires listing out dozens, if not hundreds, of details."

  Facing Wang Xu's stunned expression, he continued shamelessly: "Actually, I learned all these in my history elective course before, I just forgot for a moment!"

  Wang Xu felt that in an instant, all the blue veins on his body were exposed. Just as he was thinking of how to "punish" Xu Shu, she smiled cleverly and said in a soft voice: "Okay, old man! I was just teasing you! Let's not talk about this anymore. I'll ask you, which troops did Huang Fu, Zhu Jun, and Lu Zhi bring? According to your words, it's impossible for such a small number of people to pacify the Yellow Turbans!"

  This question did get to Wang Xu's heart, and he didn't bother to dwell on Xu Shu's intentional teasing earlier. Instead, he replied with some concern: "According to the records of 'Hou Han Shu Huangfu Song Zhu Jun', at first, they only brought a part of the Northern Army's five schools and three rivers' knights, namely He Dong, He Nei, and He Nan's large camps' cavalry. Adding the newly recruited strong men, there were more than 40,000 people to pacify the Yellow Turbans in Yingchuan Prefecture, with each of them leading half of the troops. As for Lu Zhi, he brought the other half of the Northern Army's five schools, the main forces of the large camps north of the Yellow River, and the soldiers gathered from the prefectures along the way to attack the Yellow Turbans in Jizhou. But now, I don't know what to say, after all, even the time of the outbreak has changed, what else is impossible?"