Time for v29! You know, I can't help but wonder why Romance of the Three Kingdoms has so many instances of armies sallying out from their city walls to meet their attackers when ancient Chinese warfare was marked by advanced siege warfare. Seems rather strange to just give up the defender's advantage. The only possible rational explanations I can come up with is that maybe some of the cities either don't have decent-enough walls or enough granaries to last a long-term siege. In that case, trying to settle things quickly with an open field battle might be unexpectedly less risky. But who knows?
RIP.
Poor Lu Su... He sure gets the shaft in his fictional depictions in contrast to his historical self.
Ara ara~ But I'm just an old Chinese warlord...
Don't make me ground you.
Wish there was a picture of this rock someone on the internet.
Wah! What're we gonna do on the bed?
Technically, you
gave her away.
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Sangokushi c168: Sendspace
Sangokushi c169: Sendspace
Sangokushi c170: Sendspace
Sangokushi c171: Sendspace
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Sangokushi c173: Sendspace
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How is this for a reason -- when your army is of mostly young men and your 'cannon' fodder are the local farmers, they want a decisive action sooner. Seige warfare requires patience you don't get in young men and farms need tilling. While the generals may have been older, many of the combatants would have been young men given that these are the days before pennicillin.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that theory holds enough water. First off, if a city has a decent supply of grain stored in their granaries, I think it should be able to afford skipping out on one season of farming, especially considering that food production in ancient China was very impressive for its times. Secondly, young men might be less patient in general than older men, but I don't think they'd be foolish enough to deliberately give up the security and safety that a wall provides. I think it's safe to assume the vast majority of people would take the safe and less risky approach when faced with a life-threatening crisis. But even if that weren't true, it's always the generals that calls the shots so the opinions of these "cannon foodder" shouldn't matter.
DeleteLast but not least, I'm quite sure Eastern Han dynasty armies as well as those during the Three Kingdoms era were mostly composed of professional sodiers instead of ordinary civilians, meaning that discipline and patience would've drilled to an extent.
YESSSSSSS!!!!!! more Sangokushi!!! YESS!!!
ReplyDeleteLiu Bei is kicking so much ass right now, I wonder who will stop him
ReplyDeleteWu is not catching any breaks at all.
ReplyDeleteThe reason is simple: it is to upheld moral.
ReplyDeleteA defender's greatest enemy is not an army, but the fear of being stucked behind walls, cut off from communications and supplies. While the enemy can scout the area and freely order new supplies, the defender has no other way but to wait it out. Ancient China has a long history of cities falling into chaos during siege. More cities fell to citizen rebellions, army desertions, espionage and bribery than to real army combat and annihilation. It is because of this and the fact that during times of preparation or recovering, meaning when both parties are not willing to go on a full attack, it is simply much more cost effective to let a few generals battle it out between each other, to boost moral, than to kill of 10000 soldiers.
that reminds me of Lu Bu's downfall in vol 14
Delete"Ara ara~ But I'm just an old Chinese warlord..."
ReplyDeleteLOL!
Good chapters -- I've been waiting for the best princess of Chinese literature to finally show up.
173 is labeled 172.
ReplyDeleteThanks a million for all your work
ReplyDeletein regards to your tactical musings in Sangokushi, I was also thinking the same things after Liu Bei's dashing conquest of several commanderies.
anyone who read Bokko for example, would see both how developped ancient china siege warfare was, and how difficult it was to storm a city unless you had overwhelming numbers (plus food and material logistics).
I'm also surprised to the large role that cavalry troops have in the battles : they can easily shatter spear walls, and few charges are stopped by rains of arrows.
Historically, foot-soldiers were the mainstay of ancient armies (everywhere around the world) because they were recruited from peasants or city levies. cavalry on the other hand, was either reserved to the rich (because they could pay for the maintenance anq equipment) or the nomads (who would be pillaging in small bands, rather than serve in regiments for long periods).
anyway, they are romanced manga ...
Keep the good job,
Best regards