Military History of The Three Kingdoms - Wei

Wei

The military forces of the state of Wei originated in the personal army of Cao Cao. In late 189, he raised a force of some 5000 with his own resources and some donations. His earliest commanders and officers (Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, etc.) were all either his kinsmen or close relatives. After the downfall of Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao was able to establish a base of operations in Yan province (兗州). He was joined by a number of smaller, commonly clan-based, military entities. These included the personal forces of Li Dian, Xu Zhu, among others. In 192, Cao Cao also absorbed into his army some 300,000 former Yellow Turbans which he captured. These men maintained themselves as separate units known as the "Qing Province Army" (青州兵) until well after 220. In the multi-cornered wars of the 190s, all of these forces remained loyal for Cao Cao and later became the bulwark of the Wei armies.

Cao Cao was decisively defeated at the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 and thereafter was never able to achieve significant gains against the marine forces of Sun Quan. Despite efforts by Wei at shipbuilding in 224 and again in 237, they had neither the technological expertise nor the human resources to break the defensive line of the Yangtze River.

Throughout the Three Kingdoms period, Wei always had the largest population and hence the most men in arms. Zhou Yu estimated that at Red Cliffs, Cao Cao could field 200,000 men. The size of the entire Wei military forces has been estimated at around 300,000. In 263, when the state of Shu was conquered, the build-up of Wei armies and the subsequent surrender of Shu troops may have swelled this number to half a million.