Introduction to the cavalry of the northern ethnic minorities and the infantry of the Han Dynasty during the Eastern Han Dynasty

Author: Mustafa

At the beginning of the article, it is necessary to make four points, first: in this article, most of the information about the cavalry of the minority in the Han Dynasty is taken from the Hun cavalry. Second: in a large-scale battle, a full infantry formation is rare, and a full cavalry formation is even rare, so everyone should pay attention when reading the article. Third: Because of time constraints, many parts of the article were excerpted directly by me, so they are not original.

Before we examine in detail a cavalry-based army and an infantry-based army, it is necessary to classify cavalry and infantry, and the classification of cavalry is at least divided into the era of stirrups and the era of no stirrups, because stirrups can combine cavalry and horses into a whole, so that the assault ability of cavalry in the stirrup era is greatly enhanced. In The Stirrup and Feudalism – Does Technology Make History? In the translation and commentary, it reads: 'The stirrup, in addition to the fore and rear supports provided by the saddle and gallop, and the side supports, effectively merge the horse and the rider into a single combat unit with a force never seen before. The fighter's hand is no longer used directly for the strike, it is used only to direct the direction of the blow. In this way, the stirrup replaced manpower with horsepower, infinitely increasing the samurai's ability to damage his enemies. For the sake of the narrative below, the cavalry will not be classified in more detail, but the infantry can be divided very easily into light infantry and heavy infantry, and if it is further subdivided, it can be divided into a category of medium infantry. And many people are also accustomed to divide the cavalry into light cavalry and heavy cavalry, if the heavy cavalry is defined as armor for people and horses according to the history books, then the so-called heavy cavalry is not in the scope of our discussion, because in the Eastern Han Dynasty, began to install the chest of the war horse made of leather "dang chest", (this is in the "Three Kingdoms. It is recorded in the Biography of Bao Yong). In the Three Kingdoms period, relatively complete horse armor began to appear, but this equipment was very precious at that time. Cao Cao said in the "Military Policy Order" that Yuan Shao had 300 horse armors, and then sadly said that his army did not even have 10. By the time of the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao's tens of thousands of cavalry troops together still had only a few hundred horse armors, and the proportion of heavy cavalry was only 3% of all cavalry. At this time, the horse armor was still made of leather armor, and the front of the spear could still pierce the armor.

So what kind of equipment did the cavalry of the northern minorities have at that time? First of all, from the perspective of war horses, the Xiongnu horses are slightly short in body and have large heads, which should belong to Mongolian horses. Although the Mongolian horse is not very tall, it has abundant physical strength, long-lasting endurance, fast movement, and is very adaptable to the plateau environment, so the Mongolian horse has an advantage over other horse breeds as a steppe war horse. These fine war horses, coupled with advanced horse tools - the bridle and the saddle that is easy to ride on, greatly enhanced the combat capability of the Xiongnu army. Historical Records. The Biography of the Xiongnu records that the Xiongnu troops were "all armored cavalry", indicating that the war horse was an important component of the Xiongnu military. "More than 300,000 people who control the strings" fully demonstrates the strong military strength of the Xiongnu Empire.

In terms of weapons, "Historical Records. The Biography of the Xiongnu records that the Xiongnu weapons "their long soldiers are bows and arrows, and short soldiers are swords", and the archaeological excavation data coincides with this. The excavation of the Xiongnu cemetery shows that the weapons are generally unearthed in the male tombs, mainly copper, iron, bone and wood, mainly bows, arrows, crossbows, knives, swords, ge, spears, axes, meteor hammers, etc. The bow of the Xiongnu was mostly wooden, with ornate decorative elements, and its length could reach 1.3 meters. The Xiongnu arrows are of various shapes, including copper, iron and bone, including the famous Xiongnu Mingdi, which is used for signaling. Although no confirmed Xiongnu Mingdi has been found, we can draw inspiration from the later Khitan Mingdi. Other Xiongnu arrowheads used as weapons have been excavated in large numbers, especially those unearthed in southern Transbaikalia and northern and central Mongolia, which have distinctive characteristics and exude terrifying power. Looking at their sharp fronts, and the power of crossbows or fierce marksmen when they bend their bows, people can still really feel their great lethality and the fragility of life shuttling through the light and shadow of swords. The swords of the Xiongnu were mostly made of iron, and there were a small number of copper knives. Most knives are installed with wooden handles, and are divided into several shapes, such as straight back arc blade, arc back straight edge, straight back straight edge, etc., and the scabbard is decorated. Xiongnu short swords are mostly found in the Ordos area, with a more obvious Ordos style of short swords, double-edged, the end of the handle is often decorated with animal ornaments, and some are bell heads or ring heads. The long sword is generally about 1 meter long, double-edged, some have a handle, some have a handle, some have no handle, and the rust is serious, and it is difficult to see its original appearance. The axes, spears and ges unearthed in the tombs of the Xiongnu should be the introduction and reference of weapons in the Central Plains. These Xiongnu short weapons showed strong consistency within the vast territory of the empire.

Finally, from the armor. In the era of cold weapons, which require hand-to-hand combat, the solidity of soldiers' equipment will greatly affect the overall combat effectiveness of the army. The Huns were well versed in this and attached great importance to the protection of their soldiers, unlike the soldiers of the Central Plains who relied on shields to protect themselves, but instead equipped themselves with more labor-saving and stronger armor, forming a "full armor cavalry", mobile and flexible and huge Hun cavalry. The unearthed Xiongnu helmet inherited the tradition of the northern grassland, and the shape of the bronze helmet of the Donghu nationality unearthed from the white driftwood coffin tomb of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Changping, Beijing and the Nanshangen of Ningcheng, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, the helmet of the Xiongnu is still bronze, the plain face is not edged, the helmet has a square button, there are small holes under the ears on both sides to tie the belt, the two sides are open, and the wearing can be divided into front and back. Judging from its shape, we can understand the way the Hun helmet is worn, and at the same time, we can also experience the good protection of the soldiers in the fierce hand-to-hand combat. Xiongnu armor is less common than helmets, and the Xiongnu armor fragments unearthed from Gaole Maodu M32 are made of bronze, which is densely covered with fish scales and looks very solid. The Museum of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has restored a piece of Xiongnu armor with a size of about 65×50cm, divided into two pieces before and after, and composed of many round bronze armor pieces. The nail pieces were originally connected by leather strips, but the leather strips have decayed, so only the nail pieces remain.

So after talking about the nomadic cavalry, let's take a look at the equipment of the infantry of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Armor, ordinary soldiers, is made of cooked cowhide to protect the front chest and back; The advanced point is the fish scale armor, thousands of pieces of iron are densely packed, and it is the best equipment for soldiers in the Han Dynasty, because the iron is black, so it is also called "Xuanjia"

The shield was closer to the fortifications than to the weapons at that time, the shield was small and large, all of them were the same thing, generally wooden, and the unearthed lacquer shield remembered to be two centimeters thick. The Skinned Iron Shield is too heavy to be used except against cavalry. There is also a small shield, called "hook inlay", which is said to be a small shield with a hook in the front, which can lock and hold enemy weapons, and it also has a certain attack power. However, it needs to be quite technical. The ring-headed knife with the hook setting is the nemesis of long weapons. However, it is not easy to train this kind of soldier. As for the big shield, it was more famous in Wu in the pre-Qin period, so it was also called "Wu Ke", and there was a sentence in Qu Yuan's Chu Ci "...... Wu Ge" Some people think it's a mistake of "Wu Ke".

Regarding the sword, the ring of the head of the sword is wrapped around the arm to prevent it from falling. The longer the ring, the more difficult it is to make the knife. THE UNEARTHED CULTURAL RELICS SHOW THAT THE AVERAGE LENGTH OF THE RING HEAD KNIFE OF THE SUN AND WU SOLDIERS IS MORE THAN 70CM. And Shu Han is 120CM, which shows the combat effectiveness and forging level of the soldiers of the two countries. In addition to the long knife, there is also a portable short knife, because it is called "patting" on the thigh, which should be regarded as a long dagger.

The halberd, the heavy blade of the Three Kingdoms, has different lengths and specifications, the infantry is one person high, and the longer the cavalry, the more powerful, but the more difficult it is. The simple shape of the halberd is one horizontal and one vertical, such as the shape of "Bu". The "halberd" of the Three Kingdoms appeared horizontally upturned and a hook was added vertically. Before Dian Wei's death, he used this kind of halberd to make the halberd "one fork into more than ten spears".

A spear, about the same length as a halberd, is a wooden stick inserted into various heads. The longest one is three zhang, which is used to break the cavalry.

Bow and crossbow, the unit of measurement is divided into catties (0. 2228 kg), Jun (30 catties), stone (120 catties different from ordinary weights and measures) three levels, generally bow with jin, crossbow with jun, stone. Generally, the crossbow is a bow with thirty strings, and the Zhuge crossbow is lost, and the remnants of the crossbow are missing. The cavalry also had special crossbows, and the real thing has been unearthed.

As for the sword, it was basically not a weapon at that time, it was something that was boring and elegant for literati, that is, Cao Pi and Lu Su had money and leisure to practice. As for practicing well, it seems to be a skill.

Stone-throwing device, Cao Cao used a stone-throwing car in the battle of Guandu, because the sound of throwing stones is very loud, so it is named 'Thunderbolt Car'. It is the earliest recorded stone-throwing device in the history books (Zizhi Tongjian: Yuan Shao piled up soil into a mountain in the camp, built high-rise buildings, shot arrows at Cao Ying, Cao Cao built a thunderbolt car, and attacked high-rise buildings with huge stones. )。 The principle is to use the principle of leverage to throw stones to attack enemy cities or city defense facilities and personnel.

If an army with cavalry as the main force and infantry as the main force are opposed, then it is not difficult for us to find:

1. The most critical advantage of cavalry over infantry: strong mobility and the ability to quickly strike at the opponent's weakness. It can make a fierce surprise attack at a critical moment, insert into the center of the enemy line, and play a great role in destruction. Cavalry is generally the main assault force, and the cavalry attacks the enemy's position from the flanks and rear, in conjunction with the attack of the main force in the front.

2. The cavalry has an advantage in speed and strength as well as height, and the weight and speed of the horses strengthen the impact and striking power of the cavalry, which is a very strong assault force, and the infantry is obviously inferior in this regard.

3. The cavalry has momentum and psychological advantages, and looking at people condescendingly gives people a sense of accomplishment and superiority, and on the contrary, it makes people have a sense of inferiority and crisis.

4. Infantry is generally in a defensive position due to the disadvantage of mobility. Generally, it is impossible to take the initiative to attack and pursue, and it is difficult to achieve great results without a large amount of cavalry input in the pursuit operation.

5. In jungles, mountains and rivers, as well as siege and defense battles, the infantry has an advantage, and the cavalry cannot give full play to its mobility and other advantages in a narrow area. At the same time, in the western Italian Peninsula, the Irbia Peninsula (now Spain and Portugal), and the Balkan Peninsula (mainly the former Greece, Macedonia, and Thrace), a large number of cavalry is also difficult to use, and the cavalry cannot exert its combat effectiveness in many areas due to its relatively high requirements for terrain conditions. The front of the infantry has great combat capabilities, but the sides and rear are very weak, to make a simple model, if our army has 10,000 infantry, then if we have 200 people in the front, there are only 50 people on the sides.

And where is the advantage of the infantry?

Whether it is for heavy cavalry or cavalry archers, the infantry's weapon to defeat them is the strong bow and crossbow. Because the infantry lacked tactical mobility in combat, the weapons they used were only faster than the cavalry's maneuvers and had to be long-range (because in order to form combat effectiveness, the infantry had to maintain a tight formation) in order to effectively defeat the cavalry, and this weapon is characterized by a strong bow and a crossbow. If we examine the attitudes of the Easterners and Westerners towards the strong bow and crossbow, we will easily find that the Mongols, who are the main force of light cavalry, are extremely resentful of the strong bow and hard crossbow, and in a fit of rage, they actually ordered the abolition of the manufacturing technology of the strong crossbow (hehe, seeing such a bold behavior of the Mongols, I still want to abolish nuclear weapons now!). ）； In the Middle Ages in Europe, out of respect for the status of knights, it was also forbidden to use a strong crossbow, because a low-status peasant could kill a brave knight with a strong crossbow! Of course, it is not possible to defeat the cavalry with a strong bow and a hard crossbow, remember the three-zhang spear we mentioned in the article above? Four warriors who have undergone short-term training, before the cavalry assault, set up a 3-meter-high and 1.5-meter-wide oar in front of them, three warriors are half-kneeling on the ground, supporting the oar with their head and shoulders (the oar itself has a bracket, and the warrior is used to support it against the impact of the cavalry) and the other is holding a ring-headed knife to the side, which is used to kill the fallen cavalry, as for the spear, it is through a small hole in the middle of the oar, and the end is inserted into the ground for support. So is it that the first layer of resistance that the cavalry faces when it storms is these giant shield soldiers? The answer is no, there is a protective line made of wooden horses in front of these giant shield warriors, and in front of the horses there is a trench 2 meters wide and 1.5 meters deep, and in front of the trench there are large and small traps with sharp wooden thorns and rat hole-sized mixed horses.

OK, I believe that after such a complicated introduction, you have a preliminary understanding of the cavalry and infantry at that time, so let's talk about logistics and supply.

Whenever an army sets out, it is of the utmost importance to obtain food from the enemy. Not only is it expensive to transport grain, but the situation does not allow for long journeys. Someone once calculated that a person carrying 40 liters of rice would carry five days of dry rations for himself. A civilian bears the cost of a soldier's military rations, and can travel for 18 days at a time; (40 liters of rice, 1 person eats 1.34 liters of rice a day, two people eat together, and it will be eaten in 18 days.) If you count the return trip, you can only go forward for nine days. Two civilians can pay for a soldier's military rations and can travel for 26 days; (80 liters of rice, 3 people eat 4 liters a day, after 8 days, a man has eaten the rice on his back, give him 6 days of food to let him go back, and for the next 18 days, two people eat 2.6 liters of rice and dry food every day). If you count the return trip, you can only go forward for 13 days (the first 8 days consume 4 liters per day, and the next 5 days and the return journey, eat 2.6 liters per day plus dry food).3 civilians bear the cost of military rations for 1 soldier, and you can walk for 31 days at a time (120 liters of rice, 4 people eat 5 per day for the first 6 and a half days. 3 liters, then subtract one miner, give him 4 days of food, and for the next 17 days, three people eat 4 liters of rice a day, and subtract another minman, give him 9 days of food; In the last 18 days, the two of them ate 2.6 liters of rice and dry food every day) and counted the return trip, so they could only go forward for 16 days (the first 6 and a half days ate 5 per day. 3 liters of rice, 4 liters per day for the middle 7 days, 2 liters per day for the next 11 days and the return trip. 6 liters plus dry rations) 3 civilians to bear 1 soldier, it has reached the limit. If 100,000 troops are dispatched, one-third of the baggage troops will be used, and only 70,000 soldiers will be able to actually participate in the battle, and 300,000 will already be used to transport food. (The people who return on the way should be escorted by soldiers, because the number of dead and sick people will be slightly reduced, and the less consumed food of the reduced number of people will be used by the escort soldiers). When transporting grain, each person carried 40 litres of rice, which was calculated by the total. Among them, the captain does not carry rice, and the number of people who collect firewood and water must be halved, and the part of these people must be divided equally among the other people. If there were dead or sick people, the rice they carried had to be divided evenly, so that the amount of rice they carried was often more than 40 litres. Therefore, no one in the army can eat rice, and if there is one more person who eats rice, two or three people will have to pay for him, and there may not be enough. If grain is transported by livestock vehicles, camels can carry 201 litres, horses and mules 100 litres, and donkeys 67 litres. Compared with human transport, although it is more transported and consumed less, but (on the road) can not be fed and cared for on time, the livestock is easy to emaciate and die, and if an animal dies, then it must be thrown away with the grain it carries, and the benefits and disadvantages are half compared to using people to transport grain. There are more cavalry, because you have to add the forage of the war horse, during the war, the war horse must not be free-range to eat coarse material, so each horse 3 catties / day of forage, the supply required by the veterinarian, and the water supply of the horse (calculate the cost yourself, read what I wrote so much, it's time to work).

Well, I was going to write about the general process in cavalry warfare, but now I suddenly lost my enthusiasm for writing (the above article took more than 3 hours to copy, and it reached the limit), so let's talk about it next time.

Recently, I have been watching Mengzi's "Records of the Han Empire", and in my memory, this is the first time I have paid so much attention to a novel. This article was also written specifically for this purpose. So except for Mengzi, I refuse to transfer from others, thank you.

Added: The halberd, the most important fighting long-handled weapon in the Han Dynasty, is inseparable from it for riding. And just as important as the halberd, there are spears, which are used in large quantities and have been

It's a steel product. Short-handled weapons are knives and swords, some of the unearthed steel swords can be as long as 124CM, the knife began to rise in the Han Dynasty, and it has not yet appeared in the Warring States Period.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the iron sword was still the main short-handled weapon, but after the appearance of the sword, the sword was gradually squeezed out and became a widely used weapon. The armor of the early Han Dynasty is still mainly

Armor and shields. The shields are made of wood, leather, and iron, and the common style is that the bottom edge is flush, and the upper end is composed of two arcs to form a gourd-shaped, and the shape of the middle ridge is raised, approximately

Equivalent to one-third of the height of a soldier (50~60CM), and later installed two sharp hooks on the iron shield, it became a new type of weapon - hook inlay, which can be attacked

Guard. The armor of the Han Dynasty was mainly "xuanjia", that is, iron armor, which gradually perfected and crowded out the traditional leather armor, which was inlaid from armor pieces and used at that time

Armor pieces can be divided into three categories. THE FIRST TYPE IS A LARGE LONG PIECE OF ARMOR (A CERTAIN EXCAVATED 23.4 CM HIGH AND 4.4 CM WIDE), ALSO KNOWN AS A NAIL PLATE, WHOSE HEIGHT IS OVER TIME

Progressively shorter; The second type of nail is much smaller than the first type, and the shape is closer to a square (4.6~5CM high, 2.7~3.4CM wide, weighing 10 grams), and the lower edge is generally lower

relatively straight, the upper edge of the two corners are rounded; THE THIRD TYPE, THE SMALLEST IN SIZE, CLOSER TO A SQUARE, LESS THAN 4 CM TALL AND LESS THAN 2.5 CM WIDE, IS ANOTHER TYPE OF NAIL PIECE

It is made in the shape of a locust leaf or a willow leaf. The above three types of armor can be made into two types of armor, that is, the armor made of large long strips of armor and the armor made of small and medium-sized armor pieces

Fish scale armor, in addition, there is no cape and no cape in the armor, and most of the cavalry use no cloak. Leather armor became a supporting role for iron armor, but it still served as an important auxiliary defense

Tool.

[ This post was last edited by Mustafa on 2006-5-20 11:53 PM ]