"Why?" Hong Tao naturally thought that Emperor Shenzong's calculation was wrong this time, don't ask why, just because the Western Xia was destroyed by the Mongols in history. In other words, not only will it not lose this time, but it will be able to live happily for a long time.

"The Xia State army is not weak, and the tactics are ...... to each other" Shen Kuo let out a long sigh and continued to explain the details to Hong Tao.

There were about 3 million people in the whole country of Western Xia, but its army was as high as more than 500,000, and it was a standing regular army, not counting the temporary conscription.

The Song State has 16 million households, more than 20 million male population, and more than 600,000 real combat troops, so there is not much difference between the two countries in the comparison of single forces.

As for the box soldiers, that thing is not a soldier, not even a militia, it is more suitable as an agricultural reclamation corps or a construction corps, just a group of militarized management of the people.

On average, 5 people raise a soldier, is it too poor to be militaristic? It must be calculated, under the conditions of productivity at this time, it is very difficult for even 10 people to raise a soldier, how did the Tangut people do it?

Very simply, the soldiers of Western Xia did not need to be raised, and their living habits were not much different from those of being soldiers and fighting wars. If you take a weapon, you are a soldier, and if you put down your weapon and pick up a whip, you are a herdsman, and even the adaptation period is saved.

Moreover, the soldiers of Western Xia are really called compulsory soldiers, and when they go to war, they prepare everything from horses to equipment, and the country does not care. There is no pension for those who deserve to die, and if they lose the war, they will have no salary for each family, and if they win, they will divide the spoils. If you grab more, you will earn more, and if you grab less, you will earn less.

This is the advantage of nomads, in the era of relatively low productivity, it is not easy to survive against natural disasters, plagues, and pests and diseases.

Compared with the farming peoples of the Central Plains, they are fighting every day, they have a lighter view of life and death, and their wolf nature is stronger, and they can't live if they don't rob or kill themselves. There is no need to mobilize to fight a war, and there is no need to be reasonable, as long as you promise to grab at will, the more you rob, the more glorious you are, and the more ruthless you kill, the more heroic you are.

Therefore, whether in Asia or Europe, the northern nomads always have the advantage when it comes to fighting. The agrarian peoples of the south can only try their best in weaponry in the hope of neutralizing each other's superiority. But most of the time, he can only be beaten passively, and if he doesn't pay attention, he will be defeated.

In Western Xia, the clan tent was the smallest unit, and all men between the ages of 15 and 60 were conscripted. If there are two dings in each account, draw a regular soldier and an auxiliary soldier to form a copy, and draw two copies if there are 4 dings in each account. Your family should have 5 men, congratulations, the remaining 1 can not go to the army to fight.

There are soldiers, but what about the equipment? It's not that you don't give at all, but it's about the same as not giving at all. When encountering a war, each regular soldier is given a horse and a camel, but the dead and injured must be compensated, so they are called long-lived horses and long-lived camels.

In addition, according to the size of their official positions, middle and senior officers will also be issued with some flags, drums, guns, swords, sticks, coffins, bags, felt, mud, back ropes, hammers, axes, arrows, iron claw fences, etc., and ordinary soldiers have no fart.

Don't think about the salary, if you win, grab it casually, grab it back, hand over a part of it, and share the rest by yourself. Lost...... Du Nima still has the face to ask for money if he loses, hurry up and go back to raising horses and sheep, and prepare to grab it back next time he wins!

They regard fighting the war as a kind of investment, and since it is an investment, there must be losses and gains, and no one will be dissatisfied because they have not received food.

Now some young people open their mouths and close their mouths to talk about the value of force, who is willing to ask for this kind of force value? Who wants to gamble with their lives all day. The ancient northern nomads gave everyone the impression that they were warlike and warlike, but who carefully pondered why they were warlike and warlike?

If you are well fed and warmly clothed like the Song people, and have a few spare money in your pocket, you can also go to the tile to see the juggling, or take the family to the night market to taste snacks.

This kind of bravery is fake, isn't that called bravery called survival, if you don't fight, you will starve to death, don't you become brave?

In terms of military system, the Western Xia imitated the Song Dynasty, the Privy Council was the supreme military command, the army was divided into left and right compartments, and there were 12 military supervision divisions.

To the east of the Yellow River is the left wing, under the jurisdiction of Shenmeng, Suizhou, Youzhou Jianing, Weizhou, Xishou Baotai, Zhuoluo and South 6 Supervision and Military Division. The west of the Yellow River is the right chamber, under the jurisdiction of Chaoshun, Ganzhou Gansu, Guazhou Xiping, Heishui Zhenyan, Baimaqiang Town, Montenegro Weifu 6 Supervision and Military Division.

Later, 6 military supervision divisions were added in Xiangqing, Zhongzhai, Tiandu, Shazhou, Youheyingzhou, and Jianing, totaling 18 military supervision divisions.

Each supervising army department shall have a member of the general army, a deputy commander of the army, and a supervising army envoy, and his duties shall be led by nobles. Yu commanded envoys, coaches, and dozens of officials on the left and right, regardless of the Han Dynasty.

In terms of troops, the Western Xia army and the Song Dynasty army are very different, mainly cavalry, supplemented by infantry, and several of them are more distinctive.

Iron Harrier, the main attacking force in the Western Xia army, numbered about 3,000, all of them were heavy cavalry, divided into 10 teams, and the captains were all good generals. These cavalrymen and horses were heavily armoured, and the rider and saddle were tied together when charging, so that if they died, they would not fall off their horses, and the speed and formation of the charge would not be affected.

The garrison army, a bit like the Song Dynasty's Upper Fourth Army, numbered about 30,000 people, but was equipped with 70,000 auxiliaries, which shows its elite level. This army is also dedicated to guarding the imperial city, and generally does not leave Xingqing Mansion.

The Proton Army was a soldier selected from the Western Xia nobility, numbering about 5,000, and was personally commanded by the emperor. In peacetime, it is responsible for guarding the imperial city, or accompanying the emperor out, which is basically the central guard force.

The captive army, 30,000 regular troops and 70,000 auxiliary soldiers, their main job in addition to fighting is to catch slaves and rob things.

The Poxi Army, which was an artillery unit of Western Xia, would use camels to carry a type of equipment called a whirlwind cannon, which could throw fist-sized stones far away to attack the enemy. As for what the whirlwind cannon looks like, Shen Kuo doesn't know, but from the number of people in it, this kind of equipment should not be of much use, only about 200 people.

Shanzhen, also known as Bubazi, was an elite unit in the Western Xia infantry. All the soldiers came from the mountain people, and it is said that walking in the mountains is like walking on flat ground, and the ability to run long distances is very strong, a bit like the mountain troops of later generations.

Hit Linglang, select soldiers from among the prisoners, and charge first by this army in wartime to reduce the casualties of the Western Xia troops, to put it bluntly, it is to use foreigners as cannon fodder.

In addition, there were a small number of naval armies in Western Xia, mainly deployed near the big rivers in the territory, which was estimated to prevent the Song Dynasty naval army from raiding. In fact, this military branch is completely redundant, and going against the current is also a problem for the Song Dynasty naval army.

In addition to the relatively strong army, the iron-making and forging techniques of the Tangut people also have unique characteristics, and the scale is not large and fine. The most famous are the Western Xia Sword, the Divine Arm Crossbow, and the Divine Armor. Shen Kuo had seen these three pieces of equipment with his own eyes, and even he praised them.