Is the pace of ancient war very slow?

China has a history of five thousand years of civilization, in which there have been countless wars. The friction between ancient farming and nomadic life, as well as the mutual conquests of various forces in the Central Plains, have made everyone feel the art and power of war. Charm, let’s analyze the charm and art of ancient warfare from a macro perspective.

China has a history of five thousand years of civilization, in which there have been countless wars. The friction between ancient farming and nomadic pastoralists and the mutual conquests of various forces in the Central Plains have made everyone feel the art of war. and charm, let’s analyze the charm and art of ancient warfare from a macro perspective.

If you study it carefully, the war scenes shown in many historical dramas are full of fallacies (of course, we will not discuss the scenes of flying in the sky. If you take them seriously, you will lose. Just Talking about the drama.) Those mistakes have reached the point where they affect the audience's understanding of historical facts, because if they follow the way of playing, it would be difficult for the audience to truly understand why it is so difficult for agricultural civilization to defeat nomadic civilization.

1. First, let’s talk about how the farming civilization of the Central Plains fought wars

The ancient warfare methods are closely related to the production and lifestyle. Weapons such as bows and arrows, spears, axes, knives, etc. appeared in primitive society. At that time, the division of labor in agriculture and animal husbandry had not yet occurred, so both agricultural and nomadic civilizations would use these weapons.

After the division of labor in agriculture and animal husbandry was formed, the Chinese civilization, known for its "intensive farming", produced its own personalized weapon-"Ge". This weapon is highlighted because it has left a deep imprint on Chinese culture. This word is still often used to refer to war in Chinese today, such as "to go to war", "to turn war into jade and silk", "to wait for the danger", and "to fight with iron". , "Counterattack, etc." Weapons like the "Ge" are particularly agricultural, because they are derived from sickles. This weapon has been popular from the Shang Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty.

In the TV series "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", a large number of soldiers can be seen using Changge, but this is actually inaccurate. This weapon was no longer popular in the Western Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's war strategy was to use the Huns' method to fight the Huns. Therefore, the Han army basically abandoned the traditional combat mode starting from the Emperor Wu's period. In addition, the method of using the "Ge" in the TV series is also wrong. The extras in the TV series use "Ge" in the same way as "Spear". In fact, if you look carefully, you will find that the blade of the "Ge" is facing inwards. Infantry battles are basically face to face. It seems very inconvenient to reach this thing behind the enemy's head and hook it back. How could the ancients be so stupid? Use this kind of thing to fight a war? In fact, this thing is not used by infantry. The stage where the "Ge" exerts its power is on the chariot.

Based on the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, two horses and one chariot. Three people stood on the car, one on each side, and the middle man drove the car. Ge really thrust out, missed, and then pulled back, so Ge ??hurt the enemy in that way.

It is because the iron-making technology was not developed at that time. Although spears were also equipped, bronze spears were easy to damage and there were few iron weapons. Therefore, bronze weapons and spears occupied a dominant position. Spears were not widely equipped until the Han Dynasty. of.

Chariots are a kind of "luxury" weapon in ancient China (especially in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the national strength of a country is measured by the number of chariots. You can imagine the status of chariots). The status is the same as the tank during World War II, except that it is animal-powered and uses horses.

The standard configuration of a chariot is a "driver" responsible for controlling the horses, a crossbowman responsible for long-range attacks, and a "G" hand (there are also two crossbowmen) or a chariot with two swordsmen). You can go to the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Xi'an to see this.

When the chariot rushes into the infantry formation, stick out the long sword from the side without waving and holding it. With the kinetic energy of the carriage, a large number of heads are cut off on the trajectory of the sword. In actual combat, it can be called a "head harvester".

2. Regarding cavalry. Before King Wuling of Zhao used Hu Fu to ride and shoot, there were no cavalry in the Central Plains.

Horses in the Central Plains were used to pull chariots. This was because horses were not produced in the Central Plains. Horses were extremely precious and were too luxurious to ride on. Secondly, it is because of the lack of something that seems small but is actually very important - stirrups.

If you choose only one thing as the most important epoch-making invention in the history of cold weapons, it is undoubtedly the seemingly unknown stirrup.

Stirrups are two semi-ring-shaped footrests, connected by a rope or belt in the middle, placed on the horse's back or directly connected to the saddle. You can imagine the meaning of the following thing. If you use stirrups, when you release the reins with both hands, you only need to distribute the center of gravity on the left and right stirrups, giving it an equal downward force on the left and right, through the force between the stirrups, the belt and the horse's back. conduction, and finally you will get a resultant force vertical to the ground upward (is this structure very similar to a fixed pulley?). Moreover, your buttocks and left and right feet are all under pressure, forming a stable isosceles triangle between the three points. After loosening the reins, you can still sit firmly on the horse. This means that the emergence of stirrups frees up the knight. hands.

Stirrups. This is very important for cavalry.

It is now believed to have been invented by the nomadic civilization in northern China. Archeology has confirmed that stirrups roughly appeared in the Northern Wei Dynasty (here we are talking about double-sided stirrups, single-sided stirrups appeared earlier but did not play these roles at all), so it is a pity that the novel The "Qinglong Yanyue Sword", "Zhangba Snake Spear", "Fangtian Painted Halberd" and other magical weapons used by the famous generals of the Three Kingdoms in the TV series are not consistent with the real history. In an era without stirrups, you could only use one-handed short swords when riding on horses. Weapon, because the other hand is holding on to the reins. (Except for bows and arrows, which will be discussed later) And when wielding weapons, you can only rely on arm strength, and the trunk cannot exert force.

In the absence of stirrups, a person riding a horse relies on his legs to clamp the horse's back, which is very unstable. Once the reins are loosened, the person cannot make any forceful movements on the horse's back, otherwise it will fall. Will fall off the horse, so riding a horse is not convenient for close combat, and the accuracy of archery will also be reduced (this is very important. Agricultural civilization will have reduced horse archery skills, but nomadic civilization will not. Nomadic civilization makes it easier to mount and shoot on horseback. , uses a short curved bow, while the Central Plains civilization mostly uses long bows. Compared with the infantry longbow, the short curved bow sacrifices range and labor saving, but is more convenient to use on horseback and can quickly adjust the angle to improve the accuracy of mounted shooting. degree), so the early cavalry in the Central Plains was mainly responsible for detecting the enemy's situation and delivering orders, not for charging into battle.

3. Regarding combat formations.

The main form of combat in the Central Plains civilization during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was chariot-led and infantry-based. The infantry also included shield soldiers, crossbowmen and spearmen holding short knives. There are different military formations under different forms of contact with the enemy. They are by no means rushing together to fight randomly. When the enemy shoots arrows, the shield forms a tight and neat shield wall in front, protecting not only the front but also the top, because the "ballistic trajectory" of the bow and arrow is a parabola.

When we charge, we also put the shield wall in front, and when we engage the enemy, we often change our formation to spears in front. Different formations are changed according to the rhythm of the drum. Different rhythms represent different passwords. The orders and prohibitions of each branch of the army are uniform. The contact between the two armies is always a line, and it is by no means that the two sides cross each other to fight randomly. That is a group fight, not a war.

Therefore, beating drums was not just for cheering in the wars of the cold weapon era, but for conveying orders. You must know that tens of thousands of people form a formation together, and this is not the information age. Being able to control soldiers is the basis of combat. Refer to the Legend of Chu and Han TV series, Liu Bang worshiped Han Xin as his general. The first thing Han Xin announced on the stage was the military order. Anyone who could not raise the flag, did not pay according to the flag, did not advance after listening to the drum, and did not retreat after paying for the gold, etc., would be beheaded. . Each country has its own rhythm code. The meaning of different rhythms is only known to oneself. If the enemy masters it, it is equivalent to the military code being deciphered by the enemy. It can also be seen from this way of transmitting information that the two sides seldom fight together.

Four. Agricultural civilization meets nomadic civilization.

It is well known that the nomadic civilization in northern China mainly relied on cavalry as a single arm to fight, but cavalry and cavalry are also very different. The cavalry in the cold weapon era was mainly divided into heavy armored cavalry and light cavalry.

Heavy armored cavalry appeared later, because it requires both men and horses to wear heavy armor. During combat, it relies on the impact of the horse to break into the enemy's formation and kill the enemy. In addition to the prerequisite of stirrups, it also requires higher metal Smelting technical support. This kind of cavalry is relatively common in Europe. The nomadic civilization in northern China has been dominated by light cavalry for a long time. It was not until the Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties that heavy armored cavalry appeared, but the number was also very limited.

Many TV dramas depict the war between ancient Chinese farming civilization and nomadic civilization. The two armies rushed together to fight. Even the horses stopped after the two armies rushed together, and people sat on the horses to chop each other. Or simply jump off the horse... If this is true, then we don't have to be afraid of nomadic civilization. The ancient nomadic cavalry fought the infantry of the Central Plains. The concept is very advanced, similar to today's "non-contact combat."

When the cavalry of the nomadic civilization rushed within the best shooting range of the infantry formation of the farming civilization, they began to turn, riding their horses in circles around the military formation while firing arrows continuously. The Han soldiers couldn't get close at all. They only had two legs, so they could only sit in the center of the circle and be beaten passively. They couldn't catch up if they wanted to, and they couldn't run if they wanted to. The nomadic cavalry relied on horses, and they were extremely maneuverable and would always maintain their position. The best shooting distance, it can still hit you without getting close to you. It feels like the United States fighting the Kosovo War, all "strike outside the zone", or more vividly, it is very much like "flying a kite" in the game. tactics.

If the Central Plains infantry relies on archers to shoot against the nomadic cavalry, you can imagine that the nomadic cavalry riding fast in circles on horses is a moving target, while the Han archers are basically fixed targets, so It is said that when the Han infantry faced the nomadic cavalry, they were completely at a disadvantage and very passive. The only thing they could rely on was the terrain. Of course, it may be a bit too much to say that it is the only one. Some military strategists in later generations also thought about how to defeat the nomadic cavalry when they were passively beaten for a long time.

There are actually heavy armored infantry in the north. Gongsun Zan can use him to fight against nomadic civilization or prevent invasion. Although he can't hit you, your bow and arrow can't penetrate me, but this kind of training will definitely It must be strict and watertight, otherwise if the armor is too heavy, it will be over if it is broken through, because fighting alone will be useless.

Some of the reasons are simple. Nomads must learn horse riding and archery when they are born, otherwise they will have problems in survival. For example, when fighting a pack of wolves, they will rarely give up their highly maneuverable horses and long-range bows. Because of this, they I am more accustomed to fighting on the fly, but farming and horseback riding are rare, and I can only herd cattle. So when it comes to fighting, farming is basically a stick, and shooting people is easier than shooting rabbits.

If you want to fight horse battles in farming, you first need horses, but there are not many horses here in farming civilization. Secondly, after you get on the horse, because people riding on horses are not stable, they often need a hand to stabilize themselves, so they can only Use one hand to fight, but the nomad has been familiar with the horse for a long time. When the horse stops slowly, he can use both hands to shoot arrows. After shooting, he immediately slaps the horse and starts running. Farming has exposed its own shortcomings in the combat capabilities of both parties.

5. A typical example of relying on terrain to fight against nomadic cavalry - Baishan Mountain

In 200 BC, Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, personally led his troops to fight against the Huns and was besieged on Baishan Mountain. It was Chen Ping who took the "lady's route" and bribed the Xiongnu family to find a way out.

I have seen the terrain of Baishan Mountain. There is only a solitary hill. Thanks to Liu Bang's reliance on that hill, the cavalry was not good at attacking from above, so they chose to besiege. If the army arrayed on the surrounding plains, I am afraid that Han The dynasty died in seven years, which was shorter than Qin.

If the Central Plains infantry wants to restore the passive situation when facing the nomadic civilization, an effective way is to find favorable terrain or force the cavalry to dismount. "Going up the mountain" like Liu Bang is a good choice. If the cavalry charges uphill, it will lose its speed advantage and it will not be so scary. Moreover, there is shelter on the mountain, so you didn't shoot around me and shoot arrows. If the cavalry forced their way up the mountain, they could use the mountain's strength to greet me with boulders and rolling logs.

In addition to going up the mountain, going into the water is also a good way to deal with the nomadic civilization.

The reason why Han Shizhong was able to achieve the victory at Huang Tiandang was because of his navy. The world-dominating Mongolian cavalry went to sea to fight Japan, but the results were disastrous.

In short, we must rely on favorable terrain. If you can't find particularly favorable terrain, then create favorable terrain, and you'll have the Great Wall. At the beginning of the Warring States Period, the northern countries built Great Walls to block the nomadic civilization. The Qin Great Wall was built on the basis of these Great Walls.

In addition to relying on terrain and building fortifications, another way for the Central Plains civilization to deal with the nomadic civilization is to learn their combat modes.

The first person in history to learn the fighting style of the nomadic civilization was King Zhao Wuling's "Hufu riding and shooting". Due to the long-term war between Zhao and the northern nomadic civilization, King Zhao Wuling realized the fighting style of the Hu people. It was more practical, so they began to build China's earliest cavalry regiment. In order to adapt to cavalry operations, they also learned from the Hu people in terms of weapons and clothing. Hufu cavalry and archery greatly improved Zhao's military strength. After unlocking new skills, the first thing King Zhao Wuling dealt with was his restless neighbor Qin, and he once almost destroyed Qin.

The Qin State suffered the loss of the cavalry and began to vigorously develop the cavalry. By the time of Qin Shihuang, the Qin State's cavalry regiment was already quite powerful. It played a decisive role in the Changping Battle between Qin and Zhao, and maneuvered roundabouts to cut off Zhao's army's food routes. It is Qin's cavalry regiment.

In the No. 2 pit of the Qin Terracotta Warriors, there is a complete "Qin Cavalry Corps". In order to free their legs, they did not wear traditional robes but wore short clothes of the Hu people, and their shoulders were also There is no armor, which makes it easier to aim quickly when using a bow and arrow.

These cavalry figurines hold a rein in one hand and a bow in the other. They are not equipped with long weapons, which shows that they have the same light cavalry attributes as the northern nomadic civilization. The entire cavalry in the Qin Terracotta Warriors does not have stirrups, which once again confirms that at that time The stirrups had not yet appeared.

During the Warring States Period and the early Han Dynasty, large-scale cavalry regiments appeared, but the scale was still too small. The reason was that the Central Plains did not produce horses, and the horse breeds were not good. The cavalry really began to replace the infantry as the main force of the Han army during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In order to change the passive situation of the war against the Hungarians, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty vigorously developed the cavalry and introduced fine breeds from the Western Regions. In order to introduce fine breed horses, he did not hesitate to launch many wars. In the end, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty A very important reason for being able to attack the Huns in the north was to seize the Hetao Plain from the Huns (where there is the Ordos grassland, and King Zhao Wuling was able to achieve "Hufu riding and shooting" because he captured this area) and obtained a horse breeding base.

In the future history, whether the Chinese civilization can effectively fight against the nomadic civilization will depend on whether it can maintain control of the horse breeding base.

This kind of control requires huge costs, because horse breeding bases are all in grassland areas. In order to control grassland areas, farming civilizations have to build cities, station troops, and immigrate there. People in the Central Plains are not used to the nomadic life. The grasslands are not suitable for farming, so the grain has to be transported from the interior, and more grain is consumed on the road than transported.

Therefore, not all the Central Plains dynasties since the Han Dynasty had the ability to use cavalry as their main force. Without cavalry as the main force, when fighting against nomadic cavalry, in addition to climbing mountains, launching into water, building fortifications, and learning nomadic cavalry tactics mentioned earlier, outstanding military strategists in the past dynasties also had their own ways of fighting cavalry, especially in the Song Dynasty. , almost all of them were dynasties with infantry as the main force (the horse breeding bases were all under the control of Liao, Xixia, and later Jin). Some people gave it an awesome name, which was called riding with foot.

6. The excellent methods of using foot to control cavalry and using cavalry to control cavalry in the past dynasties

Whenever we talk about the formations to restrain the nomadic cavalry, we must talk about the famous "Que Yue" Array". Let's first talk about this Queyue Formation

The conditions that constitute the "Queyue Formation" are slightly complicated, including geographical conditions, weapons, arms and troop configuration.

Geographical conditions: river water. Because the Jin army had water control, the river water could ensure the safety of the rear and flanks of the "Queyue Formation", and there was no need to worry about being surrounded by enemy troops.

Flat river bank with wide view. A good field of vision makes it easy to observe the actions of both the enemy and ourselves and grasp the situation on the battlefield in a timely manner; the flat terrain can make the enemy lose its terrain advantage, and the Jin army can overlook the battlefield from a tall warship, which is equivalent to occupying the commanding heights.

Weapon: Warship. It was used to control waterways, transport troops and combat supplies. Once the war went unfavorable, it could also support the Jin army in the formation. chariot. It is used to resist the impact of enemy cavalry and play a defensive role. shield. Protect the chariot. Staff, crossbow, hammer, spear, etc. Used to kill and injure enemy troops.

Arm type: Infantry. Including chariots, crossbows, etc., they are the main force in combat. Navy. cavalry. Used to chase fleeing enemies, there won't be too many of them.

Strength configuration: Use hundreds of chariots to set up an arc-shaped "Queyue Formation" more than a hundred steps away from the water, hug the river at both ends, and use the river bank as a crescent moon. Each chariot is equipped with 7 warriors. There are 700 soldiers with sticks in total; after the formation is set up, 2,000 soldiers are sent ashore to meet them, carrying hundreds of crossbows. 20 soldiers are added to each chariot, and shields are set up on the shafts to protect the battlefield. car.

Because the "Queyue Formation" is arc-shaped, from a physical point of view, the arc can disperse the force at the stress point and has good impact resistance; the soldiers in the formation also have staffs, Weapons such as crossbows and spears are very lethal. At the same time, the soldiers in the formation have their backs to the water, which can have the effect of "being trapped to death and then surviving".

Limitations of the "Queyue Formation"

Liu Yu relied on the "Queyue Formation" to defeat the Wei army's more than 30,000 cavalry with nearly 2,700 infantry, showing great power. When many military enthusiasts today talk about the issue of using footwork to control cavalry, they will definitely talk about the beauty of the "Queyue Formation". But what is puzzling is that the "Queyue Formation" was like a flash in the pan. Although the records in the history books are detailed, no one used this formation after this battle, which made people confused. After that, only the Ming Dynasty's example of Qi Jiguang's battle against the Mongolian cavalry in the northwest using chariot formations to defeat the Mongolian cavalry could be considered somewhat similar.

Qi Jiguang ordered the infantry to form a formation with armored chariots on the grassland, which made it impossible for the Mongolian cavalry to use their mobility. At the same time, he took advantage of the Ming army's infantry's advantage in firearms, and finally used the Ming army's cavalry to outflank and defeat the Mongolian prince. The Ministry's war cases are somewhat similar. The difference is that the Ming army fought on the grasslands, while the Jin army had its back to the Yellow River; the Ming army relied on chariots, while the Jin army relied on naval forces; the Ming army's most lethal weapons were firearms, such as artillery, muskets, etc. The Jin army used strong bows, crossbows and spears. Although almost a thousand years apart, Qi Jiguang obviously understood the essence from Liu Yu's "Queyue Formation" battle example. It can be seen that although there was a long period of China's 5,000-year history that advocated "Confucianism" and "domestic survival", many military strategists still relied on their own intelligence, wisdom and courage to write in China's 5,000-year history. One brilliant victory after another. The "similarity among the differences" of these victories is that they were all achieved while fighting the cavalry of the nomadic civilization in the north. It is precisely because of the victory after victory created by these outstanding military strategists that China's 5,000-year-old civilization can continue to this day, unlike civilizations in other parts of the world that collapsed under the invasion of nomadic civilization cavalry.

In addition to Queyue Formation, Zhuge Liang, a super master who has achieved great results in using footwork to control cavalry, has invented many alternative weapons to deal with cavalry: The first is the horse tripping nail. This thing has a unique design, no matter how you throw it When you reach the ground, there is always an iron nail pointing upward. Before the battle, sprinkle it on the area where the cavalry is about to attack. When the cavalry arrives, the horses' hooves will be smashed. The method of use is similar to today's bicycle repair vendors scattering thumbtacks on the road. Of course, the only difference is that after your horse is punctured, no one will help you patch it up.

The second move is the cart. Zhuge Liang’s army is equipped with wooden carts. When the cavalry is found, the wooden carts will be blocked in front of the infantry to block the cavalry attack. It can also be regarded as a wooden mechanized army. .

The most ruthless move is the third move, which is also Zhuge Liang’s most miraculous invention, the repeating crossbow. This is definitely the machine gun of the year. According to historical records, this repeating crossbow can hit ten shots at a time and is extremely lethal. , so the Wei cavalry at that time was very afraid of fighting with the Shu army.

But the first two have fatal weaknesses, and they are both defensive in nature. As for the continuous crossbow, it did not flourish at this time due to complex manufacturing processes and too strong operability.

The Peak of the Cavalry

Everyone knows the story of the Mongolian cavalry sweeping across Europe and Asia, so I won’t go into details. The Mongolian cavalry at that time could be called a super unit in the cold weapon era. The Mongolian cavalry were extremely hardworking and could eat horse meat and drink horse milk for several months. The march continued and then suddenly appeared before the eyes of the Europeans. So he was quite introspective and gave the title "Whip of God" to Genghis Khan. What we need to see is that before invading Europe, the Mongols first conquered China, the largest country in science and technology at the time. The benefits of advanced technology to the Mongolian cavalry are obvious.

First of all, they can get a steady supply of high-quality iron arrows, and secondly, the powerful armor of Middle-earth: the ring armor, which has a perfect balance between weight and defensive performance, makes the Mongolian cavalry more survivable.

Although the Mongolian military system is simple, it is very practical. They do not have the useless bureaucracy of the Southern Song Dynasty. They use small groups of cavalry to test during battle, and then use surprise attacks to attack the enemy's weak parts. Once the attack is frustrated, retreat immediately and then look for opportunities to break through from the side. Mobility is the greatest advantage of the Mongolian army. What is even more unbelievable is that the weapons of the Mongolian army are more advanced than those of the Southern Song Dynasty. Their genius invented the most terrifying bow at the time, with a range of up to 300 meters, and it was difficult to withstand no matter how thick the armor was. Only the divine arm bow equipped by the most elite Southern Song army can compare with it. But in war, weapons are never the most important. The soldiers who fight are the key to victory or defeat.

Fighting with the Mongols is a very painful thing, because they do not fight directly with the opponent with swords, and their most important weapons are bows and arrows. Your nightmare begins when you encounter the Mongolian cavalry. Shooting arrows before attacking, shooting arrows during the attack, and even shooting arrows when he was running away. You can't catch up with him, and you can't hit him. This kind of rogue-like style of play can drive people crazy! This is also the reason why when the Mongolian army later attacked Eastern Europe, those Europeans who were much stronger than them were beaten to pieces. Basically, they were not killed by swords, but by arrows.

PS: Iron Blood has a post about the comparison between French heavy cavalry and Mongolian cavalry. In front of the Mongolian cavalry, let alone the third-rate French cavalry, even the super powerful one in ancient Greece

The Spartan warriors and the British longbow are all a pile of rubbish! ! I like the adjective "bean curd".

An advanced figure who uses riding to control riding. ——Wei Qing, Huo Qubing, Li Ling

During the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu troops in the north, under the management of Mao Dun, had become the most powerful force in the north, posing a great threat to China. "Sending 400,000 elite troops to surround the Emperor of Gao in Baideng" and his suicide note to the Queen made Liu Han unable to visit the north for decades. He could only rely on marriage and gifts to temporarily alleviate the intensification of conflicts and resolve them. Border pressure. It was not until the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that he finally had the energy and ability to travel north, relying on the wealth accumulated by Wenjing for forty years and the power of a wealthy country and a strong people. Although the infantry still outnumbered the cavalry in the army led by Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, the cavalry was undoubtedly the main force in the army at this time. Many of the Huns' attacks in the north relied on cavalry to win.

In addition to the strong national power at this time and the large increase in the number of horses in the army, there is another important factor, which is the development and use of bows and arrows in China. At that time, the infantry formations against cavalry were basically the same: heavy infantry holding shields in front, bows and arrows behind, to face the impact of nomadic cavalry, and leading elite cavalry to surprise.

Dazzling meteor——Huo Qubing.

Huo Qubing went out to attack the Huns several times for his illustrious martial arts, because this person has always been commented on because of his strong legendary color, but Huo Qubing’s victory is there, he defeated the Huns six times and won every battle, you You may say that he is lucky or that he has priority in everything, but please do not ignore the dangers, difficulties and hardships he endures every time he advances alone, every time he faces a powerful enemy, every time he fights more with less. This definitely requires great decision-making and fearless heroism.

In the sixth year of Yuanshuo (123 BC), Huo Qubing was not yet eighteen years old. He followed General Wei Qing to attack the Xiongnu (the Battle of Monan in history) with the title of Lieutenant of Piao Yao. After repeatedly asking for battle, Wei Qing selected 800 brave cavalry and put them under his command. They first put on the battle robes. Huo Shao, who had no actual combat or command experience, relied on his enthusiasm and bloody courage to lead the 800 warriors hundreds of miles away from the army and launched a sneak attack. Succeeded, "Beheaded and captured 2,028 high-level prisoners, won the Prime Minister's Kingdom and the title of household, beheaded Shanyu's eldest father, who was a marquis, and captured Ji's father Luo Gubi". They returned with a great victory and unprecedented results. The news came to the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu was very happy and awarded him the title of "Champion Marquis", which means he bravely champions the three armies.

In the spring of the second year of Yuanshou (121 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty appointed Huo Qubing as General of Hussars. He led 10,000 fine cavalry and set out from Longxi (now Lintao County, Gansu Province) to attack the Xiongnu. As expected, Huo Qubing lived up to expectations and drove straight in. He crossed the wuzhi, begged Xiu Pu, crossed the fox slaves, and visited the five kingdoms, hoping to capture Shan Yuzi. After six days of fighting, he passed Yanzhi Mountain for more than a thousand miles, and the soldiers joined forces and fought fiercely. Under Gaolan, kill King Zhelan, kill King Luhou, take Prince Hunxie, the Prime Minister, and the Captain, capture eight thousand nine hundred and sixty-level soldiers, and collect Xiu and slaughter the Tianjin people." This was Huo Shao's first regular large-scale test battle of blitz tactics, and the result was a complete victory and brilliant results.

The decisive battle in Mobei was Huo Qubing's personal peak moment. Wei Qing and Huo Qubing each led 50,000 cavalry (what is the concept of 50,000 cavalry!!! Later, it was also because the Han army lost too much horses and did not continue the pursuit) , marching towards Mobei in two directions: east and west. Huo's ability to command troops at this time has reached the level of transformation. In such a battle, he killed as many as 70,000 enemies and only lost 20-30% of his own troops. How rare! The reason why Han Wu mobilized the whole country's troops to complete the battle in one battle was because of his unparalleled trust in Huo's ability. "It is better to use the remaining brave men to pursue the poor bandits", to kill the Xiongnu's effective strength to the maximum extent, and to completely drive them out of the desert, making them unable to invade the country within decades. Huo Shao implemented Emperor Wu's policy of expelling the Xiongnu from the north thoroughly. During the Han Dynasty, , after this battle, the military power was so great that it was invincible for a while.

At this point, "the Xiongnu fled far away, and there was no royal court in the south of the desert." This powerful civilization on horseback was finally attacked by the powerful Western Han Dynasty and led away by the iron-blooded conquests of famous generals such as Huo Qubing and Wei Qing, without even a glimpse of the Yinshan Mountains.

The Han Dynasty took the initiative to attack in order to eliminate its effective forces and thereby eliminate the Xiongnu's ability to invade, and Huo Qubing did exactly this. Don't think that this can be done just by talking about it. For the Huns, due to their extremely high mobility and excellent tactical literacy, it is very, very difficult to defeat them easily and to annihilate them. Wei Qing's cavalry tactics were undoubtedly very powerful for that era, but Huo Qubing was far beyond that era. Within three years, he beheaded 110,000 captured Huns and surrendered more than 40,000, accounting for 2/3 of the results of the ten-year war between Han and Huns (Longcheng-Mobei). Although the number of enemies killed is not the only criterion for judging the outcome of a war, it is closely related to the final criterion. The ultimate goal of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was to eliminate the Xiongnu. If the number of enemies killed did not change significantly, it would be impossible to eliminate the Xiongnu, and it would become a war of attrition, with both sides losing. Are we going to say that those hundreds of thousands are all women and children? Let me tell you, when calculating the number of prisoners, the heads of women and children will not be included. This has been the case in all dynasties. It is useless to bring them back.

The peak showdown - riding against riding

Advanced figures: Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Li Wenzhong, Zhu Di, Lan Yu, Dorgon

In In the fierce confrontation with the super cavalry Mongols, the Chinese cavalry once again showed one of our great skills: learning and flexibility.