Kingdom is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhisa Hara (泰久原). The manga provides a fictionalized account of the Warring States period primarily through the experiences of the war orphan Shin (Xin) and his comrades as he fights to become the greatest general under the heavens, and in doing so, unifying China for the first time in history.
History Spoilers
Now with hango arc slowly starting to the final stages I wonder form this arc how big truly is Zhao military in the manga and with mother nature giving Zhao a earthquake and a famine in the following years (depending if hara wants to show it) we might see how much will be easily killed off. Now we don't know the number of some of these forces but we can estimate by using the characters speech bubbles.
Now first of with the north Zhao force that we know the size of being 300k. Also with this 300k force from chapter 794 is a unknown army that will block/harass Qin's retreat. I'm guessing this army is probably around 60k or more spread out across a wide area.
The second force is near Buan/Kantan. From chapter 771 Ouhon made a statement saying he defend the two castle near Riboku's wall and pushed the enemy force back every time. So with that the force has to be big enough to attack so I would think it's around 150k to 200k or more. I'm going to say it's probably around 180k
Now the final Zhao force and its a eastern surprisingly. If like me you may have forgotten a character we saw only once while ordo gotten his ass beat by SBS His name is Chouhaku the Slow ( Yan soldiers called him slow for some reason). But he invaded and took two Yan cities so I would say the eastern army is around 40k to 60k nothing big but enough to take two cities. Also to make note in chapter 502 riboku did say that the eastern front isn't without its defenses so it could be more but I would say at least 60k.
Now an army worth mentioning is Kisui with his 30k rigan army somewhere in the heart of Zhao. But with that Zhao depending on what you could estimate with some of these forces but it totals up to 630k.......now depending on how hara handles Zhao for the future that number could increase or it will start to slowly crumble down into a small force until reaching the barren north where Dai will breath until its last breath years later. But if any of you have a take on this let me know because I'm curious what you guys think.
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Hara greatest weakness as a writer, in regards to warfare, was dropping the need for a state to relay on peasants to get hundres of thousands. For some reason the peasant armies that made up the bulk of Qin's first two campaigns never appeared again.
If Zhao is capable of raising 630k men, then they are absolute idiots for just sending 120k to the coalition or to Bayou, the excuse of one being more free to get so many men only when defending is ridiculous, war is not some sort of game in which you can just send 15% of your manpower and risk it be exterminated, if you are going to war you are full committing to reduce the chance of defeat.
I always said this point, that the coalition was bad written. After discovering so many incredible generals back in Zhao, I was wondering why Riboku didn't send 200K soldiers along Bananji, Gyou'un and Chougaryuu. The argument 'the threat of Qi' doesn't exist with Kochou, Shibashou, Kisui and many more staying in Zhao during the coalition.
It just didn't make any sense. Neither that Qin could pull out 400K to 500K soldiers to defend themselves, despite being the strongest state, they should be able to raise way more soldiers in such a shortime. I never understood this arc storytelling. Numbers were weird.
Numbers themselves were weird. Putting aside all other battlefields, Keisha vs the Duke seems like a waste opportunity by RBK. Does he really has no confidence in himself to beat the Duke 40k with 120k men????
His masterful plan of flanking Kankoku pass seems like ass whenyou consider he decided to do nothing in the weakest Qin battlefield (number wise) after the first day. Keisha became unnefective once the Duke noticed he was instinctual too and became cautious (pointless instinctual vs instinctual). Imagine if it's RBK actually leading that army, that means he is crushing the Duke in the overall battlefield (And with an advantage of 40k to 120k at that!) with the weakness that the Duke might outmaneuver him and get to his HQ ( the only win condition the Duke has). Well the Duke beating RBK's HQ is impossible, because RBK had the strongest fighter in that battlefield (Houken).
Meaning RBK simply let an obvious opportunity of winning the battlefield conventionally by defeating Qin's weakest arm and then flank Moubu and Tou, an obvious strategy that would made them win 100%. The Duke numbers were simply too few to have any chance against RBK + Houken. Which in itself is poor writing by Hara, why is the Duke (an offensive general) on a field having such horrible odds against Zhao when Ousen has much better ones while having a defensive position???? The only reason the Duke didn't lose was because Zhao greatest general decided not to lead himself (basically plot).
Well the attack at Sai happened historically so it needed to happen so it depends on how you get there. I would assume riboku told Keisha not to use the full force but enough to keep the eyes away form the actually plan by have a two forces (depending if the coalition army made it through) to pinch the Qin capital form the front and the side.
Which would make more sense if the Duke had more men (for it would not be such a clear victory for Zhao). But RBK with 120k men + Houken claps any Qin general that only has 40k in some plains.
Just give the Duke some extra 30k (at least that would make it less that 2to1 odds instead of 3to1) and add a line of RBK not being so sure of his own ability to defeat the Duke after losing some simulations against Keisha even with favorable odds which is why he chose to attack Sai, that would be enough for me. As it is, is the only engagement i didn't like in the Coalition.
Well the next war arc we got after Bayou was Sanyou which introduced 1000 man unit and I think hara wanted to keep with the feel of everyone having armor. Now Zhao capable raising this 630k wasn't around until later because hara has add more men in Zhao and losing men over the story. Which is fine but I think it's starting to show is ugly head a bit now with this arc. I could be wrong with my estimate also because we don't know the size of the eastern force and buan/kantan army size so its hard to know.
I would generally agree with your estimations but i think the Kantan/Wall defences will be less than what you expect.
The forces which defended Kantan were the Kochou army which was heavily beaten in the Battle of Eikyuu and should only have 140k at best left but more likely 80k to 100k solders. That would be enough to stop (or at least delay) a Qin army trying to attack the Wall but not strong enough to be a risk for either of the two castles and Ouhon said that they have neglectable losses to their "attacks". These seem more like reconnaissance rather then a serious attack.
The Dai army will most likely be the loyal remnants of the RBK/SBS army (after the death of RBK) and maybe the Chouhaku army (but they could also be part of the Choukotsu army getting destroyed by Ousen). The Kantan/Kochou army will most likely will be destroyed in 229 BC with siege of Kantan by YTW.
I may be wrong but i read it was Kanki who died besieging Kantan in 229 bc. Can you confirm? Was he leading the campaign or was he serving under YTW?
Kankis death was never confirmed in the Shiji. But another historical source the Zhan Guo Ce says that he died during the siege.
The shiji only says that YTW lead the siege while at the same time Ousen attack another city and destroyed the RBK army following RBKs death. Kyoukai attack Zhao too without more information given. She could be part of either invasion or leading her own.
Is Shin in Han during all this?
Han is a year prior. Most likely he is part of the Zhao invasion as well (the Shiji hints at it and he is the protagonist). But we don't know what army he will be part of and what his accomplishments will be.
I don't see SBS going north because he cares about seika more and with him being strip of his title he might just leave and head home where he might meet his end by Qin or Yan. With Kantan/Buan force it has to be enough to send tou to gyou beside him keep a eye on Wei and chu. But I think the added strength came from Buan depending on how many soldiers it has but you make a great point about kochou and his lost. Did we ever know the full force he was using against all three GG before fighting kanki?
SBS could join if Seika is part of Dai which seems likely as it borders Yan and Dai should have a GG.
He had 240k before the battle and we know that at least the 100k POWs killed are lost. I would say that he should have lost in the 8 days of fighting Kanki between 40k - 60k soldiers.
Dai will have the full Ganmon army, I can see the defense guy who was introduced way back in Bayou arc, maybe futei. At least how I see SBS he really didn't want to be apart of this war and even some of his general think seika is its own kingdom. Knowing that SBS get historically strip of his position I just see him being like a little bit like renpa and not wanting to continue to serve a king or even the next one in line because of how thing will go down.
The Ganmou army is currently part of the war and unlikely to be full strength. Even then they would only have Bananji, Rihaku and Futei which are good generals but no one who could give any GG of Qin a decent fight.
Renpa was clearly ready to return to Zhao to protect the state (even with a bad king) and Dai will have the best possible king they can wish for. I can understand if he returns to Seika and doesn't continue the fight but for the plot alone it would be better for him to continue as a general in Dai.
In total? most likely between 500K and 700K soldiers. From this, you can add they have one more "big" general hiding in Kantan for their last line of defense + a variety of generals spread around Zhao. And of course militias everywhere. Maybe in grand total it could be up to 800K.
We did get a named drop for a general but the Zhao court didn't want to use him before calling Riboku back and I wasn't sure how hara will introduce him with having a force or just taking over the remaining forces. But damn if you think it could get up to 800k then I kinda hope Zhao gets a bloody nose while chasing Qin in the current arc or riboku attacks Qin to try and kill ousen and suffer losses from that because I can only see the famine taking out 100k to 200k depending on hara does it.
Buan/Kantan force may be a little less but apart from that i think you are on point.
A state that size raising an army of 630000- more i read this manga, the more i think it is a fantasy one. Fantasy not fiction mind you. I wonder when the elves, the dwarfs, the dragons, the vampires and the demi gods will show up. Hopefully before the reunification. And people say Shin building a harem seems unrealistic- come on that ship sailed a long time ago.
Yeah also don’t forget the 450000 that hakuki buried alive and the 100000 that kanki recently killed on top of the casualties from all the wars they fought since the start of the manga and you easily cross the million mark and more
Like is the entirety of their population making octuplets or what
Yeah on top of it they’re all full armored veteran warriors no peasants in sight
Well from other periods in China the population only continued to grow so imagine the army's they could raise during the Three kingdoms Era. You might be right about the Buan/Kantan force but I think about tou being sent to gyou which I forgot to talk about but if he was sent there besides keeping a eye on Wei and chu it must be a sizeable force.
Hara really overembellished the number of soldiers that Zhao was capable of fielding. In history, their military was cut to size after Changping. It was then reduced even further by Kanki in 234 BC with 100k more troops beheaded.
I would probably go with 400-500k at the maximum. Much of this being due to civilian recruits and pretty much every able-bodied man who isn't essential to other sectors of Zhao society being trained, armoured and then sent out to meet the Qin forces under the banners of Gian and other cities.
Dai was pretty much a rump state when it formed. I'm not even sure how much of a viable military they would have left. 200k is probably being generous for what they could deploy.
I think it was fine early on overembellished the numbers but I think after the gyou arc hara should have started to transition to historically Zhao numbers over the course of general Kochou loss by kanki because even with hango it's starting to shows its problems with it because Tou was sent to gyou to defend against a buan army beside keeping a eye on Chu and Han. That's why I'm still have a little bit of hope for Zhao to suffer some losses form this arc just to even out Qin's losses a little bit.
If you ask me. Whatever the army RBK is bringing. They're bringing every train militant reserves they can muster.
The battles at Hango are combined forces from North, Central and east.
The Kantan army, together with the west armies that retreated back for a better position, was the largest portion of the military that Zhao has deployed. I believe they are truly the main defense force. Worth 300k-400k combined.
It looked small. Gotta remember that many of Zhao's militants died fighting against Hakuki and other Six Great generals of Qin, that Hakuki the unbeatable general massacred over 1 mil+ in his career (so the record says) in those days. We haven't even counted on other Six Great generals. Ouki, Kyou, Shibasaku, Kou shou, and Oukatsu.
After Kanki's decision to behead 100k prisoners of war.
The cities whose men were killed by Kanki would later volunteer to assist RBK as conscripts/militias.
Shibashou's generals also assisted some of Zhao's cities in training. So the numbers went up.
Generally speaking. The numbers of fully trained soldiers the Zhao's has right now that RBK deploy for defence or offense, may only be 15%-33% of their original strengths. Had King Tou Jou, the decadent ruler, not swapped Renpa with an inexperienced General. Many men under Renpa would still be alive, and RBK would have more options to choose from, maybe attacking Qin without the need for a coalition.
The army at hango is mostly made up of the north and east armies. (considering seika is out east) we know the ganmon army is form the north same with enkan's army being from gian which make up both wings and the center is all of seika. Also last war arc it has the feeling riboku is using only the northern forces beside a little help form seika because you would use the armies that know the area the best. But it's hard to tell because hara has continued to add more men to Zhao over the arcs because I think about it seika in their one city is having a 120k army total or more because he did lose a general in the pervious arc.
Understandably that's due to Seika wanting to prepare for an independent state away from Zhao, safe to say they're bringing everything they have. 120k seems right. The Quanrong tribe King Rozo has similar numbers under one city when up against the Yotanwa army in the Gyou invasion arc.
And yea, while it's mostly east and north, I do believe the still surviving central army/Kantan army has merged alongside RBK and SBS. Possibly on the left wing Qin post taking the hit by Yotanwa army
If not, possibly to garrison outside Kantan to safeguard. The damages are too deep and unable to function for many years. They're relying on officers that worked alongside RBK to use their personal armies atm.