Chapter 1841: Total troop strength exceeds 900,000
At the beginning of the first year of Xingping (AD 194), Qin Hao went to Taihang to marry the empress of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang failed to launch the Taihang Rebellion, and the Qin and Ming Dynasties merged into one country. Then 500,000 Qin and Ming coalition forces crossed Taihang and invaded Hebei, starting a
The prelude to the Hebei War.
In the eight-month war that followed, the Qin army experienced hundreds of battles, large and small. Although it still failed to completely unify Hebei, it also captured Jizhou and Qingbei, establishing its dominance in Hebei.
In these successive battles, although the Qin army won consecutive battles, its casualties were also high.
The Qin army suffered 90,000 casualties in the Jizhou battle.
The great battle that destroyed Zhao resulted in fifty-two thousand casualties.
Since the Qin army in Jizhou did not intervene in the Qingzhou battlefield, not counting the casualties in the Beihai battle, the Qin army suffered casualties of 150,000 in the battle in Hebei alone.
Of the 500,000 Qin and Ming coalition forces before the war, only 35 were left after Jizhou was completely occupied.
Although the Qin army suffered heavy casualties, it wiped out a greater number of enemies and captured a large number of prisoners of war.
Li Jing won a great victory in Beihai and captured 62,000 Han, Zhao and Chenliang coalition forces.
Su Dingfang captured 33,000 Zhao troops after the Julu Battle. After breaking through the Bohai Sea and destroying Zhao, he captured another 130,000 Zhao troops, of which 30,000 were surrendered.
Bai Qi ambushed from all sides and captured 80,000 Korean and Zhao coalition troops in the first battle, and later forced Zhang He's 30,000 Korean troops to surrender.
Excluding the descending troops, the Qin army captured nearly 300,000 prisoners of war on the three main battlefields alone.
Li Jing led 30,000 elite troops to support the Jizhou battlefield, while Qingbei, which was extremely short of troops, collected all the prisoners to maintain the Qin army's rule in Qingbei.
Except for the prisoners of war in Qingbei who were integrated, the other prisoners were dispersed and detained in dozens of prisoner of war camps in Yecheng and Bohai to prevent the prisoners from rioting.
Of the 500,000 Qin troops who invaded Jizhou, only 350,000 were left. In addition to Zhang He's 30,000 Korean surrender troops, Xiao Yan's 30,000 Zhao surrender troops, and Li Jing's 30,000 Qingbei elite, the Qin army
There are still 440,000 troops in Jizhou.
Counting the 60,000 prisoners of war reorganized in Qingbei, the Qin army still has an army of 500,000 in Hebei.
After fighting for eight consecutive months and killing nearly 150,000 troops, the Qin army still maintained its strength of 500,000 by recruiting prisoners of war and enemy troops.
Of course, among the 500,000 troops, Qingbei's 60,000 integrated troops have varying overall qualities and their combat effectiveness is too weak, so it is naturally impossible for them to participate in the Youzhou War.
The only troops that can participate in the Youzhou Battle are the 350,000 Qin Army, Li Jing's 30,000 Beihai Qin Army, and Zhang He and Xiao Yan's 60,000 Han and Zhao surrender troops, for a total of 440,000 troops.
To deal with the mere Northern Han Dynasty, there was no need for 440,000 troops. Even 200,000 troops were enough to conquer Youzhou.
But as 200,000 Manchu and Qing troops move south, and even more Qing troops may enter Youzhou at any time, everything becomes uncertain again.
The 500,000 Qin, Jin and Ming armies lost a total of 150,000 this time, with the Ming army suffering the greatest loss.
The 150,000 Ming army that had just returned to the Qin Dynasty now only has nearly 80,000 troops left, with nearly 70,000 soldiers reduced, and nearly half of the soldiers died on the battlefield in Jizhou.
The reason why the casualties of the Ming army were so high was mainly because they wanted to perform well in front of the new master. The generals of each army fought extremely hard on the battlefield, so the casualty rate was so astonishing.
Nearly half of the 150,000-strong army suffered casualties, and the generals of the Ming Dynasty were naturally anxious. The military prince asked for the captain, the captain asked for the partial general, the partial general asked for the general, the general asked for Long Qie, and Long Qie asked for Qin Hao, hoping to obtain Qin Hao from the prisoners of war.
to replenish troops.
The Ming family's request was not excessive. After all, their casualties were indeed the highest in the entire army. Qin Hao was prepared to agree at the slightest moment. This was also to balance the strength of the three families and prevent any one family from becoming dominant.
Qin Hao's arrangement was certainly correct, but after the generals of the Qin and Jin factions learned about it, they all came to Qin Hao, hoping to supplement it from prisoners of war.
Except for the prisoners of war who have been incorporated in Qingbei and the 100,000 strong prisoners of war in Bohai, the other prisoners of war are the main force of Han and Zhao. He added that after being in the army, they can go to the battlefield immediately after a little training. They are the best source of soldiers, but this
The number of prisoners of war is obviously not large.
There were only 120,000 prisoners of war in the main armies in Wei County and Bohai. Even if they were all absorbed by the Qin army, it would not be enough to fill the 150,000 holes left by the Qin, Jin and Ming dynasties.
In order to compete for these high-quality troops, the generals of the Qin, Jin, and Ming dynasties were quarreling so much every day that they almost started fighting, and Qin Hao was bothered by them endlessly.
Originally, Qin Hao wanted to organize these prisoners of war into an army separately, and then hand them over to Han Xin to lead, but he did not expect that his family was eyeing these prisoners of war, and wanted to absorb the blood of Hebei prisoners of war.
After careful consideration, Qin Hao decided to collect all the 120,000 prisoners of war, and then brought all 40,000 prisoners of war in the Bohai Sea to Yecheng. The 120,000 prisoners of war were handed over to Li Jing and Han Xin for centralized training.
As for the other 100,000 strong prisoners of war in the Bohai Sea, Qin Hao ordered all of them to be sent home, and this order also quickly made the people of the Bohai Sea return to their homes.
After a month-long training by Li Jing and Han Xin, the 120,000 Korean and Zhao prisoners of war had completely returned home and could be absorbed into the army.
In the end, Qin Hao divided the 120,000 prisoners of war into four parts: 40,000 belonged to Han Xin's subordinates, 40,000 belonged to the Ming clan, 20,000 belonged to the Qin clan, and 20,000 belonged to the Jin clan.
Since then, in addition to the Qin, Jin and Ming factions, there has been a new faction in the Qin army, the Ji faction.
Currently, among the major factions of the Qin Army, the Qin Faction is the strongest, the Jin Faction is second, the Ming Faction is third, and the Hebei Faction is the weakest.
At present, the forces belonging to the Hebei faction are only Han Xin's 40,000 prisoner reorganized army, Zhang He's 30,000 Korean surrender army, and Xiao Yan's 30,000 Zhao surrender army, for a total of 100,000 troops.
After Qin Hao reorganized the two states of Hebei and Qing Dynasty and collected 120,000 Korean and Zhao prisoners of war, the Qin army's strength in Jizhou reached 560,000. Including the 60,000 troops in Qingbei, the total strength of the Qin army in Hebei reached
A staggering 620,000.
Adding in the troops from Jingzhou, Sizhou, Bingzhou, and Hetao, the total strength of the Qin army has steadily exceeded 900,000.
Nine hundred thousand troops, this is definitely a terrifying number.
You know, even the Han Dynasty before the Yellow Turban Uprising still did not and could not support such a large army.
But now that new grain varieties have been thoroughly promoted, Qin Hao can feed a total of 900,000 troops with only the six states of Sijing and Qinghetao in Hebei Province.
After Qin Hao captures Youzhou, the total strength of the Qin army will definitely exceed one million. Even if all the princes join forces, they still cannot stop Qin Hao's unification.