Notes on Military Systems
Army Composition and Organization from the Fall of Hàn to the Three States
Writing about the military systems of the past is hard. For one thing, Chinese history is long. This means that the military systems can change a lot between time periods.
“Obviously,” you say, but from my casual Internet browsing, there seem to be a bit too many instances of people writing about military organization of a specific period who nevertheless cite texts from other specific time periods (most often Zhōu or the Warring States) without warning or clarification. Sure, it is possible that some of these old systems were maintained or else were imitated by the later periods, but they should at least be aware of what their sources are and warn their reader about the possibility of differences.
So that’s what I will do. I will share what I’ve found in my semi-casual searching through texts about historical military structure, but I will preface it with a warning that we will have to be making some assumptions as to whether or not what was written applies specifically to the Fall of Hàn and Three States, plus assumptions on the reasoning behind certain decisions and how the structure was intended to work.
Unit Size and Rank Ideals
The Zhōu Lǐ text contains a passage on what was presumably the ideal Zhōu military unit organization:
Overall the regulation of the army, is ten thousand and two thousand five hundred people form an army (jūn). The King has six armies, large states three armies, the next states two armies, small states one army. Army leaders are all mandated ministers. Two thousand and five hundred people are a brigade (shī), brigade commanders are all central grandees. Five hundred people are a battalion (lǚ), battalion commanders are all lower grandees. A hundred people are a company (zú), company chiefs are all upper servicemen. Twenty-five people are a platoon (liǎng), platoon majors are all central servicemen. Five people are a squad (wǔ), squads all have chiefs. One army then has two offices (fǔ), six scribes (shǐ), assistants (xū) of ten people, followers (tú) of a hundred people.1
Obviously, these are ideal figures, and Zhōu era ideal figures at that, but they perhaps served as a guide for the military officers during the Fall of Hàn and the Three States in organizing their subordinates. For instance, at various points the historical records surrounding the Three States era still include mentions of “three armies” and “six armies.”2 Some of these may be a more stylistic references to the old Zhōu ideals rather than literal descriptions, but it is also possible that at various points commanding officers did seek to maintain the ideals by organizing the main Imperial army into six units and more regional forces into three units. We are told, for example, that in 200 Yuán Shào organized his invading force into three armies,3 and the Sòng shū treatises on bureaucracy explicitly identify a system of organizing the central Imperial armies into six groups that was used at various points through Hàn, Wèi, Jìn, and Sòng.4
Looking at other parts of the Zhōu Lǐ, it seems that though the Zhōu ideals had some influence on the naming of ranks (for example, the name “Tiger Elite” hǔbēn 虎賁 as a division of the Imperial Guard seems to derive from a Zhōu rank)5, the names of ranks had overall changed a lot through the Warring States and into Qín and Hàn.
The commander (jiāng 將) of an army (jūn 軍) is a general (jiāngjūn 將軍, or “shogun” in Japanese pronunciation). This rank name was of course used through Qín and Hàn and Wèi all the way even into modern times, but its origins seems to be from the Jìn state during the Warring States era. Following the Zhōu ideal, Jìn state organized its military into separate armies, and then called the commander of each army as a general.6
During Qín and continued into Hàn, the office of colonel (xiàowèi 校尉) appeared as a new rank below that of the general. During Hàn, ranks as generals were temporary commissions created for specific campaigns7 (I would assume to prevent someone from building up too much personal military authority and rebelling), and the standing military forces tended to be headed by colonels instead. Hàn Emperor Wǔ of Former Hàn installed a system of eight colonels commanding eight regular divisions in the capital region around Cháng'ān,8 but by Eastern Hàn there were instead five colonels commanding five regular divisions around Luòyáng.9 Hàn Emperor Líng of Later Hàn famously attempted to set up a new eight colonel system, the West Garden Eight Colonels.10
From Wèi and into Jìn colonel ranks tended to appear less frequently, possibly because the militarization of the Three States era had made the appointments of generals as regular offices much more common. Simply compare the bureaucracy treatises in Sòng shū and Jìn shū against Hàn shū and Hòu Hàn shū: there are far more general ranks that seem to be regular appointments.
The next rank after colonels were majors (sīmǎ 司馬), the name deriving from the Zhōu era. The military staff of a general or a colonel tended to be headed by a major, so most majors served as a sort of second-in-command within their military unit.11
Military Unit Composition
Here I have to do some guess-work and assumption making. Hàn records provide some information on unit composition at various points in time, namely in describing the regular colonel-led units of Former and Later Hàn, but it is not always clear what was continued or re-used through the Fall of Hàn and into Wèi and when and how. At the very least it provides some information into how military composition might have worked.
The main five regiments of Later Hàn were led by:
Garrison Cavalry Colonel 屯騎校尉. A cavalry division.12
Surpassing Cavalry Colonel 越騎校尉. Some commentators have interpreted the “surpassing” as Yuè, referring to Yuè peoples, but others have argued that it seems unlikely for the Yuè peoples from the mountainous south to be cavalrymen. This appears to have been a mounted archer division.13
Infantry Colonel 步兵校尉. The annotations only identify them by the location of garrison,14 but I would guess that this was probably actually an infantry group since, well, it’d be really weird for it not to be an infantry division.
Cháng River Colonel 長水校尉. This was a division of cavalry made up of nomadic Hú peoples. The annotations disagree as to whether Cháng River was a garrison location or if Chángshuǐ was a name for a tribal group.15
Shooting Sound Colonel 射聲校尉. This was a ranged weapon division, supposedly named that because they would shoot at any sound in the darkness.16 It seems probable that they were armed with crossbows rather than bows.17
We get a few more hints at military unit composition and tactics in one of the few extant records of battle narrative preserved in Yīngxióng jì:
[Yuán] Shào personally went to campaign against [Gōngsūn] Zàn, meeting in battle south of Jiè bridge by twenty lǐ. [Gōngsūn] Zàn’s infantry of over thirty thousand people formed a square battle line, cavalry as the two wings, left and right each over five thousand, the White Horse Righteous Followers as the center, also divided to form two regiments, left shooting right, right shooting left, banners and flags and armor shining and dazzling sky and ground. [Yuán] Shào ordered Qū Yì with eight hundred troops to be the first to ascend, strong crossbows of a thousand sandwiching and following them, [Yuán] Shào personally with infantry of several tens of thousands joining lines at the rear. [Qū] Yì had been in Liángzhōu for a long time, understood and was practiced in Qiāng warfare, the troops all were valiant and elite. [Gōngsūn] Zàn observed their troops were few, and so unleashed the cavalry wishing to tramp them. [Qū] Yì’s troops all covered themselves with shields down and not moving, when [the cavalry] were several tens of bù away, then at the same time they all rose up, stirring up dust and greatly shouting, directly charging ahead, the strong crossbows as thunder firing, all that they struck fell, and on the battle lines they cut off [Gōngsūn] Zàn’s appointed Jìzhōu Inspector Yán Gāng’s head, took over a thousand heads. [Gōngsūn] Zàn’s army was utterly defeated, infantry and cavalry fleeing, no longer returning to camp. [Qū] Yì pursued them to Jiè bridge, Zàn’s palace troops returned to battle atop the bridge, [Qū] Yì again defeated them, and then arrived at [Gōngsūn] Zàn’s camp, pulling out his ivory gate standards, and the remaining forces in the camp all scattered and fled.18
So, probably division into cavalry, infantry, and ranged/crossbow units was a relatively common high-level organization system, and probably there were also lower level organizations within these larger groupings, such as mounted archer cavalry versus heavy cavalry, and perhaps different kinds of infantry divisions based on differing equipment.
Of the commentators many said: “The troops west of the passes are strong and trained with long pikes. If elite troops are not selected to be the front line, then they cannot be matched.” His Excellency [Cáo Cāo] said to the various officers: “The battle is decided by us, not by the rebels. Though the rebels are trained with long pikes, we will not let them use them, you sirs just watch.”19
Wèi Innovations and Revisions
During the Fall of Hàn, Cáo Cāo and his officers developed some of their own systems for military organization. Hàn had used a Northern Army and Southern Army division, but beginning from Cáo Cāo and into Wèi the military was organized into an Inner Army and Outer Army distinction, the Inner Army probably being the military forces of the capital region and the Outer Army probably referring to the military forces out in the provinces. Cáo Cāo created the ranks Manager of the Army (lǐngjūn 領軍) and Protector of the Army hújūn (護軍), the Manager supervising the Inner Army and the Protector supervising the Outer Army.20 At alternative points, these positions were also known as Central Manager of the Army 中領軍 and Central Protector of the Army 中護軍, and during the Fall of Hàn these positions were occupied by Hán Hào and Shǐ Huàn.21 The Protector of the Army offices, as supervisor over the Outer Army, handled the selections for military offices.22
Theaters
Beginning from the Fall of Hàn and into Wèi, the military also came to be organized into four main war theaters, named after the cardinal directions: East, South, West, North. The eastern theater was concerned with the ongoing war with Wú across the lower Yángzǐ river, the southern theater the war with Wú across the middle Yángzǐ river, the western theater the war with Shǔ-Hàn across the Qínlíng mountain range, and the northern theater concerned with the pacification of the northern nomadic peoples. Titles such as “Campaigning East General” and so on had already been in existence during Hàn, but as irregular miscellaneous appointments. By Wèi, probably due to the ongoing war, such offices appear to have been regularly used and filled.23 The “Campaigning” 征 versions of the offices seem to have been the highest rank, then the “Defending” 鎮, then “Pacifying” 平, then “Securing” 安.24
Cáo Cāo first created the Four Campaign Generals as regular ranks, with Xiàhóu Yuān as Campaigning West General, Cáo Rén as Campaigning South General, and Zhāng Liáo as Campaigning East General.25
Similar to its northern counterpart, Wú organized its military forces around the two main theaters of the middle Yángzǐ and lower Yángzǐ, to the point that Wú maintained essentially two capitals, a western capital Wǔchāng and an eastern capital Jiànyè, respective headquarters for the middle Yángzǐ and lower Yángzǐ military theaters, corresponding to Wèi’s “East” and “South” theaters.
Sūn Quán had previously been based in Jiànyè, but following the destruction of Guān Yǔ and conquest of Jīngzhōu in late 219 and early 220, Sūn Quán relocated west to Wǔchāng to more directly administer the newly conquered territories. He remained there until declaring himself Emperor in 229, whereupon he returned east to Jiànyè, leaving his eldest son and heir Sūn Dēng along with the powerful minister Lù Xùn at Wǔchāng, entrusting them with the western front.26
Similarly, in Shǔ-Hàn, military power tended to be concentrated in the Hànzhōng region in the north, a forward base from which to launch their northern expeditions and also to maintain defenses against Wèi’s counter-invasions, corresponding to Wèi’s “West” theater.
This is, of course, only a start on the subject of the military systems. We have not even touched on Wèi’s tūntián “garrison-farm” system, on the river navies of Wèi and Wú, on the military issues to the “rear” of the three states, that is the tribal groups to Wèi’s north and Shǔ-Hàn’s south and Wú’s south, but hopefully we will at some later point.
Zhōu Lǐ, Xià Guān Sīmǎ: 凡制軍,萬有二千五百人為軍。王六軍,大國三軍,次國二軍,小國一軍。軍將皆命卿。二千有五百人為師,師帥皆中大夫。五百人為旅,旅帥皆下大夫。百人為卒,卒長皆上士。二十五人為兩,兩司馬皆中士。五人伍,伍皆有長。一軍則二府、六史、胥十人、徒百人。
A casual electronic search for the phrase “three armies” 三軍 in the annotated SGZ turns up about 39 results, for the phrase “six armies” 六軍 turns up about 34 results.
Xiàndì zhuàn annotated to SGZ 6: 乃分監軍為三都督,使授及郭圖、淳于瓊各典一軍,遂合而南。
Sòng shū 40: 是為六軍。
Zhōu Lǐ has: 虎賁氏:下大夫二十人,中士十有二人;府二人,史八人,胥八十人,虎士八百人。
Sòng shū 39: 周制,王立六軍。晉獻公作二軍,公將上軍。將軍之名,起於此也。
HHS, Bǎiguān zhì 1: 將軍,不常置。本注曰:掌征伐背叛。
HS 19.
HHS, Bǎiguān zhì 4.
HHS 8: 八月,初置西園八校尉。Annotation: 樂資山陽公載記曰:「小黃門蹇碩為上軍校尉,虎賁中郎將袁紹為中軍校尉,屯騎校尉鮑鴻為下軍校尉,議郎曹操為典軍校尉,趙融為助軍左校尉,馮芳為助軍右校尉,諫議大夫夏牟為左校尉,淳于瓊為右校尉:凡八校〔尉〕,皆統於蹇碩。」
See the various bureacracy treatises in HS, HHS, JS, and SongS, which include descriptions of the staff of the high ranking officers; most systems have one major as the chief officer’s chief assistant in military affairs.
HS 19: 屯騎校尉掌騎士。
HHS annotations: 如淳曰:「越人內附以為騎也。」晉灼曰:「取其才力超越也。」案紀,光武改青巾左校尉為越騎校尉。臣昭曰:越人非善騎所出,晉灼為允。 HS 19 annotation: 如淳曰:「越人內附,以為騎也。」晉灼曰:「取其材力超越也。」師古曰:「宣紀言佽飛射士、胡越騎,又此有胡騎校尉。如說是。」
HHS annotations: 初置掌上林菀門屯兵,見前書。HS 19: 步兵校尉掌上林苑門屯兵。
HHS annotation: 如淳曰:「長水,胡名也。」韋昭曰:「長水校尉典胡騎,廄近長水,故以為名。」長水蓋〔關〕中小水名。
HHS annotation: 服虔曰:「工射也。冥寞中聞聲則射中之,故以為名。」HHS annotation: 蔡質漢儀曰:「掌待詔射聲士。」漢官曰:「員吏百二十九人,領士七百人。」
Needham, Joseph (1994), Science and Civilization in China Volume 5 Part 6, Cambridge University Press.
Annotated to SGZ 6: 英雄記曰:公孫瓚擊青州黃巾賊,大破之,還屯廣宗,改易守令,冀州長吏無不望風響應,開門受之。紹自往征瓚,合戰于界橋南二十里。瓚步兵三萬餘人為方陳,騎為兩翼,左右各五千餘匹,白馬義從為中堅,亦分作兩校,左射右,右射左,旌旗鎧甲,光照天地。紹令麴義以八百兵為先登,彊弩千張夾承之,紹自以步兵數萬結陳于後。義久在涼州,曉習羌鬥,兵皆驍銳。瓚見其兵少,便放騎欲陵蹈之。義兵皆伏楯下不動,未至數十步,乃同時俱起,揚塵大叫,直前衝突,彊弩雷發,所中必倒,臨陳斬瓚所署冀州刺史嚴綱甲首,獲千餘級。瓚軍敗績,步騎奔走,不復還營。義追至界橋;瓚殿兵還戰橋上,義復破之,遂到瓚營,拔其牙門,營中餘眾皆復散走。
Wèi shū annotated to SGZ 1: 魏書曰:議者多言「關西兵彊,習長矛,非精選前鋒,則不可以當也」。公謂諸將曰:「戰在我,非在賊也。賊雖習長矛,將使不得以刺,諸君但觀之耳。」
Sòng shū 40: 領軍將軍,一人。掌內軍。Sòng shū 40: 護軍將軍,一人。掌外軍。
Sòng shū 40: 魏武為相,以韓浩為護軍,史奐為領軍,非漢官也。建安十二年,改護軍為中護軍,領軍為中領軍,置長史、司馬。 SGZ 9: 韓浩者,河內人。沛國史渙與浩俱以忠勇顯。浩至中護軍,渙至中領軍,皆掌禁兵,封列侯。
Sòng shū 40: 魏初因置護軍,主武官選. Shìyǔ annotated to SGZ 9: 世語曰:玄世名知人,為中護軍,拔用武官,參戟牙門,無非俊傑,多牧州典郡。立法垂教,于今皆為後式。
Sòng shū 39: 征東將軍,一人。漢獻帝初平三年,馬騰居之。征南將軍,一人。漢光武建武中,岑彭居之。征西將軍,一人。漢光武建武中,馮異居之。征北將軍,一人。魚豢曰:「四征,魏武帝置,秩二千石。黃初中,位次三公。漢舊諸征與偏裨雜號同。」
Sòng shū 39 lists them in this order, which seems to be an order of seniority.
For Xiàhóu Yuān and Cáo Rén see SGZ 9, for Zhāng Liáo see SGZ 17.
SGZ 47.