Why are the portraits of ancient military commanders so big that they can go to war with their stomachs full?

Ancient portraits, especially those of generals, are relatively simple, generally dressed in mighty and domineering armor, armed with combat knives, or sitting or standing. And that suit of armor is their business card as a military commander. The quality of armor and excellent workmanship are also symbols of their identity.

But can a general with such a big belly still go to war?

In fact, most of the ancient generals were really like this. Their body fat and stomachs did not delay them from killing the enemy on the battlefield at all, but they were still their advantages.

The needs of ancient wars

Why do you say that?

Because the ancient battlefield was different from ours now, and there were not so advanced bulletproof materials. They were all killed in the army. In order to improve the defense ability, soldiers should wear heavy armor. And the real ancient battlefield is completely different from what we are playing in the TV series now. It's not a knife that directly kills you, but multiple fractures of your hands and feet, and you're covered in knives. Often after a big war, there are far more people injured than dead.

This is why an elite national army with excellent armor and advanced weapons can often treat one as ten or even one as a hundred without armor and weapons mainly bamboo rakes and sticks. This is not only because of their outstanding individual combat capability and appropriate tactics, but also because their weapons and armor are much better than those of the peasant army.

This is even more prominent in the siege war. Faced with a large number of bows and crossbows, the level of martial arts and even the formation are not so important. A suit of armor that can resist anger and shoot is the fatal factor to attack the tower. Therefore, in ancient times, the quality of armor determined the casualties and combat effectiveness of a person and even an army.

In ancient times, the quality of armor was basically related to its thickness. The thicker the armor, the stronger the defense, and of course the heavier it is.

According to historical records, in the Song Dynasty with advanced armor, an ordinary soldier had to wear armor weighing 50 kilograms, not to mention those generals. Counting weapons, it is normal to carry more than 80 kilograms. Some are even equipped together, reaching 100 kilograms. Can you wear such heavy armor and weapons without good strength?

Ordinary people can't kill the enemy on the battlefield, and it's even hard to put on this armor.

Therefore, in ancient times, when selecting generals and even recruiting ordinary soldiers, strength and solidity were the main criteria. Those who have passed the martial arts champion will certainly be able to pull eight to twelve hard bows. When Zheng Chenggong, a general of the Ming Dynasty, screened soldiers for his elite army "Iron Man Army", he told every soldier to walk around the field with hundreds of pounds of big stone piers, and those who failed were eliminated directly.

Then the strength is directly related to the degree of fatness. People in ancient times were not as comfortable as they are now, and people with martial arts backgrounds had to work since childhood. If they can grow so fat, their meat will be strong. Being able to have a big and strong figure is naturally very powerful. So those generals in ancient times, as long as they were born in martial arts, were basically fat and strong, and only in this way could they go to the battlefield.

Muscle shape has little to do with strength.

Moreover, according to scientific statistics, human strength has little to do with muscle shape and whether there is a belly. A bodybuilding champion with very beautiful muscle training is only beautiful in the eyes of modern people, and his real strength may not exceed that of those ancient generals who are pregnant. However, because ancient generals didn't have so many scientific and reasonable fitness methods, they couldn't exercise the eight-pack abdominal muscles of modern people, so most of the burly people were holding beer bellies.

But in the eyes of the ancients, as long as they are fat and strong, they are big and magnificent, which is a symbol of strength. Even for a military commander, if he is not fat enough and burly enough, it is still a shameful thing. As for muscle and body shape, each era has its own unique aesthetic standards.

Of course, there are exceptions to the portraits of ancient generals, such as Yu and Zeng Guofan, who were born in literati. By contrast, they are much thinner in the portrait. Because it is a civil servant who gave up his pen and joined the army, it is normal to be thin and thin, and there will be no shame. But generals like this often don't gallop on the battlefield. More importantly, they strategized and won the battle thousands of miles away, which is equivalent to the current operational staff.

In addition, because ancient portraits are not only for recording the general's personal appearance and figure, but also for future generations to see, it is natural for ancient people who always pay attention to the evaluation behind them to leave a good impression on future generations.

Because he was born in martial arts, he was tall and burly, even more important than his appearance, so those military commanders who were relatively not burly would privately ask painters to draw more "mountains and rivers". Although this is a bit self-deception, it will leave a good impression on future generations and satisfy their vanity.

So there are many portraits of military commanders handed down, many of which are not like themselves. They just followed people's eyes at that time but followed the crowd to draw a big waist, just like all the photos now are PS.