The biggest army organization in times of the West Zhou Dynasty was the division rather than the corps, each division comprising 2,500 soldiers. “The Six Western Divisions (Stationing in the Capital of Hao)” consisted of 15,000 soldiers, and “the Eight Yin Divisions (stationing in Luoyang)” of 20,000 soldiers, with the total of 35,000 soldiers. The former scholars were not right, saying either a division was equivalent to a corps, comprising 12,500 soldiers or that a division consisted of 3,000 soldiers. The West Zhou Dynasty implemented the soldierpeopleunited system, which divided into “wu (伍)” of five men, “liang （两）” of twentyfive men, “zu (卒)” of one hundred men and “lv (旅)” of five hundred men. The former was recorded in the bronze inscriptions, and the latter two were included in The Spring and Autumn Annuals. The army organization agreed with the chariot frame in the day: two chariots merged into a “liang” of 25 men, of which one worked as the chief, carrying 10 men, three armored soldiers, one rider, one defender and one commander, and the other as the assistant, carrying two armored soldiers, acting as the rider and defender respectively. There were 3,000 chariots, including the Janissaries of 37,500 armored soldiers commanded by the Body General. This number plus that of body guards agreed basically with the number of “the Six Western Divisions” and “the Eight Yin Divisions”. The former scholars’ claim that one chariot carried 30 or 75 men did not agree with the chariot frame of the West Zhou Dynasty. In fact, the chariot frame of 30 or 33 men did not come into being till the midst, and the heavy chariot frame of 75 or 100 men did not appear till the late days of the Spring and Autumn Period.

the West Zhou Dynasty; army organization; chariot frame; “the Six Western Divisions”; “the Eight Yin Divisions”