How to get total count of posts on category list?

Hi all,

I have made a category and a posts table. On post table I'm storing the category id's in the JSON format on posts table. Now, I would like to get total count of posts for each category where categories are store on a different table. I've tried everything I could but as a beginner I'm still on loss. So, I would like to know what is the proper/efficient way to do this?

This is my Category Model

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Category extends Model{
    use HasFactory;

    protected $table= 'categories';
    
    // Get assigned parent category to it's child category
    public function getChildCategory(){
        return $this->hasMany(SubCategory::class,'parent_cat_id','id');
   }

   // Get Attached Category thumbnail by ID
    public function getCategoryThumbID(){
        return $this->hasOne(Media::class, 'id', 'image_id');
    }
}

This is my posts model

namespace App\Models; 

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsToMany;

class Posts extends Model{
    use HasFactory;

    protected $table= 'posts';

   // Get Attached Post thumbnail by ID
   public function getPostsThumbID(){
    return $this->hasOne(Media::class, 'id', 'post_thumbnail');
}

 
    public function categories(){
        return $this->belongsToMany(Category::class,  'id');
    }
    
}

This is the category controller

`<?php
// Get Total count of post based on the category

namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\File;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;
use App\Models\Category;
use App\Models\Media;
use App\Models\Posts;
use Validator;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\View; 

class CategoryController extends Controller{
   function allView(){
      if (View::exists('backend.category.all')) {


      
          $data=[
             'title' => 'List of category',
             'items' => Category::orderBy('name', 'asc')->paginate(10),
             'categoryImage' => Media::all(),
            //  'categoryCount' => $postCount,
             'mode' => 'add',
          ];
         return view('backend.category.all',compact('data'));
      }
 }  

   function save(Request $request){
 // Validate the request...
    $this->validate($request, [
      'Category_Name' =>  ['required','unique:App\Models\Category,name'],
      'category_image' => 'image|mimes:jpeg,png,jpg,gif|max:2048',
     ]);
 
 $cat = new Category;
 $cat->name = $request->Category_Name;
 $cat->status = $request->status;

 // Category image upload
 $this->categoryImageUpload($request,$cat);
 
// Save the query
   $query = $cat->save();
      if($query){
        return back()->with('success', 'Entry added successfully');
      } 
   }


function edit($id){
    if (View::exists('backend.category.all')) {
 
      $data=[
         'title' => 'Edit category Info',
         'editItems' =>  Category::findOrFail($id),
         'items' => Category::orderBy('name', 'asc')->paginate(10),
         'mode' => 'edit'
      ];
      return view('backend.category.all',compact('data'));
   }
}

function update(Request $r){
   $editcat = Category::find($r->update_id);
    // Validate the request...
    $this->validate($r, [
       'Category_Name' =>  ["required","unique:App\Models\Category,name,$r->update_id"],
       'category_image' => 'image|mimes:jpeg,png,jpg,gif|max:2048',
   ]);
 
      $editcat->name = $r->Category_Name;
      $editcat->status = $r->status;
      
      // Category image Update
      $this->categoryImageUpload($r,$editcat);

       $query= $editcat->save();
       if($query){
           return redirect(Route('category.all'))->with('success','Entry Updated Successfully');
       }else{
           return redirect(Route('category.all'))->with('error','Something went wrong');
       }
   }
 
function destroy($id){
   $itemId = Category::findOrFail($id);
         $successDelete= $itemId->delete();
         if( $successDelete){
            return redirect()->route('category.all')->with('success', 'Entry deleted successfully');
         }
     }
       

     private function categoryImageUpload($request,$categryInstance){
         $directory = 'category';
            if (!file_exists(public_path($directory))) {
               mkdir(public_path($directory), 0777, true);
            }

            if (!File::isWritable(public_path($directory))) {
               return back()->withErrors(['message' => 'The uploads directory is not writable']);
            }


            if ($request->file('category_image')!=null){ 
               $media = new Media;
               // Get the uploaded file from the request
               $image = $request->file('category_image');

            // Get the original name of the image
               $originalName = $image->getClientOriginalName();
               $fileName = time().'_'.$originalName;

               // Move the uploaded file to the desired location
               $destinationPath = public_path($directory);
               $image->move($destinationPath, $fileName);  
            
               $media->image_name = $fileName;
               $media->image_path = $directory.'/'.$fileName;
               $media->save();
               
               $categryInstance->image_id=$media->id;
            }else{
               $media = new Media;
               $categryInstance->image_id=NUll;
            }
     }
}`

Any help would be much appreciated