Han Yunhua is very aware of the gap between the cavalry units of the military region and the Japanese cavalry, although he is not from a cavalry background, but as a commander with heavy troops, understanding the enemy is one of the tasks he must do. In the battle with the Japanese army in Saibei, cavalry is an absolutely indispensable link, and the vast grassland cannot be controlled by infantry divisions with extremely poor mobility alone, so the duel between cavalry has become the key to fighting for the Saibei grassland.

Therefore, since the decision to lag behind in the development of Saibei, Han Yunhua has paid special attention to the construction of cavalry. The vast majority of the cavalry in the Inner Méng Ancient Military Region came from the Méng Ancient Clan, and the cavalry here referred to both knights and war horses. The vast majority of the knights of the Inner Méng Ancient Military Region came from the Méng Ancient Plateau and other ethnic groups living on the Méng Ancient Plateau, such as the Hui and Manchus. The war horses of the Inner Méng Ancient Military Region are also from the Méng Ancient Grassland, except for a small part of the captured purebred Japanese war horses, and the rest are war horses produced in China.

The duel between the cavalry troops was extremely tragic, he was not like the infantry across the trenches, and his performance was relatively "subtle", once the cavalry troops met, it was definitely the most primitive confrontation between the knights, and the horses and sabers became the key to determining the outcome of the battle.

Military horses are the second most important weapon in the Japanese Army after firearms – and they are living weapons – and the two central pillars of the Japanese Army's cavalry divisions are men and horses. There is no doubt that the Japanese horses were much better than those used by the Chinese cavalry. In terms of the acquisition and education of military horses, China has done relatively little work, while the Japanese army has done a relatively good job in this regard. The Japanese army has a total of eight military horse supplement departments in Japan and Korea, and young horses are purchased from horse breeders and raised in military horse supplement departments for four years. And in the autumn of the year when the horses are five years old, the ponies are to be added to the troops. Ponies who "report" to the army are first trained as recruits called "new horse training". The training period is about one year and is carried out by a veterinary officer of the infantry wing. The training is divided into two phases, the first phase is seven months long, focusing on various sports methods and troop marching training; The second stage is five months long and focuses on training the horses for endurance. Horses trained by the new horses will be inspected at a parade and distributed to the grassroots units after the Wing Captain has completed the inspection. After completing the training, the horses are distributed to the units for service, which lasts for about ten years.

The Japanese army was relatively thoughtful about the adjustment and protection of the war horses, and the first task of each grassroots unit after starting every day was to complete the stable service. Every day before breakfast, the horses of each unit are pulled out of the stables, the horses are washed, the hooves are cleaned, and the horses are fodder. When the weather is fine, the hay in the stable for the horses to sleep and rest should be exposed to the sun and dried. The entire stable operation takes about an hour, and according to the relevant regulations of the battalion, all units must complete all the stable operations and feed the horses before the troops are allowed to eat breakfast.

There is another important reason why the Japanese war horses are stronger than the Chinese horses, that is, the food of the Japanese military horses is much better than that of the Chinese horses. Japanese military horses had to be fed three times a day, and the four ingredients in peacetime included: barley, hay, salt, etc., and the rations of military horses in wartime included other wheat, beans, oats, etc. At the same time, the military horses serving in the squadron are much more pitiful, not to mention the poor food, the most important thing is that the amount is insufficient, corresponding to China's national strength is poor and weak, and the people themselves have lived hard enough, and people have not yet eaten that there is food to feed the horses. Not to mention that the extra food and forage given by the troops to the war horses is not much, even if it can reach the daily average of so much, it will not all reach the belly of the horse. It is extremely common for people in the squadron to eat horse food, horses are an animal, whether it is a war horse or an ordinary horse, they can't speak, even if they are robbed of food by the soldiers, they will not complain.

Not to mention the cavalry units of the National Government, even the cavalry units of the Inner Méng Ancient Military Region, which attached more importance to the cultivation and training of war horses, did not dare to compete with the Japanese army in this regard. This time, the cavalry units of the Inner Méng Ancient Military Region wanted to compete with the Japanese army in a cavalry duel, and even wanted to completely annihilate the Japanese cavalry group, which was not an ordinary difficulty. Therefore, Han Yunhua did not dare to bet all his treasures on the cavalry troops of Aolige, after all, he knew his own situation. Although Aurege now has nearly 50,000 cavalry, there are not many of them who actually have combat effectiveness. ,

If the more than 50,000 cavalry in Aolige's hands competed with the same number of cavalry troops of the National People's Government, then Han Yunhua would definitely put a hundred hearts, because in terms of combat effectiveness, the individual soldiers of the Inner Méng Ancient Military Region were much stronger than those cavalry troops of the National People's Republic of China.

In addition to Han Yunhua's troops in the Saibei area, cavalry units were also formed by the Japanese army, the puppet army, and the troops of the Nationalist Government, but if you want to assign a name to the combat effectiveness of all cavalry units, the Japanese army deserves to be ranked first in terms of the same number. In addition, the cavalry troops of Han Yunhua's department far surpassed the national government and the puppet army in terms of momentum and the importance of the cavalry, so the combat effectiveness of Han Yunhua's cavalry should be ranked second, and the national government is also the legitimate government of China, so there is also a considerable investment in the cavalry, even if there are many problems in the implementation process, but it is also much stronger than the puppet army that is always restricted by the Japanese army.

Although there is an extremely large gap between China and Japan in terms of troops, after all, the more than 15,000 cavalry of the Japanese army is far inferior to the number of Han Yunhua's troops, but the number of cavalry duels can certainly be used as a factor to measure combat effectiveness, but it is not the most important. Looking at cavalry battles throughout history, it is not difficult to see that the number of people does not determine the success or failure of a war.

But in this battle, the Méng Ancient Military Region can't afford to lose, if it loses, not only will his Han Yunhua's own life not be guaranteed, but even the entire war situation in North China will undergo earth-shaking changes, and Saibei, which has been painstakingly operated for more than two years, will return to the state of 37 years. Therefore, Han Yunhua absolutely did not allow such a major mistake in this battle, in order to win this battle, Han Yunhua made two preparations, the first is to deliberately conceal the whereabouts and strength of the cavalry troops, until now the intelligence organs of the Japanese army do not know how many cavalry units there are in the ancient military region and how many people there are. Second, Han Yunhua ordered the cavalry's nemesis armored unit to rush to eastern Hebei to cooperate with the cavalry troops.

You must know that the armored force is the natural nemesis of the cavalry, he holds the cavalry to the death with strong armored protection and relatively superior mobile force, and every time the cavalry fights with the armored force, the result will end in a crushing defeat for the cavalry unit.

The most active cavalry unit of the Japanese army in North China is the cavalry group, although not a single division of the Japanese army has a cavalry unit with varying numbers but the least number of wings, but to say that the degree of fame is still the cavalry group. The Japanese cavalry group (the scale reached the division level) was organized and dissolved in July 1933 in Hailar, Beibei, and was subordinate to the group headquarters and the 1st Cavalry Brigade (consisting of: the 13th and 14th Cavalry Wings and the Machine Gun Team). The 4th Cavalry Brigade (consisting of: the 25th and 26th Cavalry Companies and the Machine Gun Brigade). Group Cavalry Artillery Wing, Group Combat Vehicle Brigade, Mechanized Automobile Infantry Brigade, Group Baggage Brigade. Since the cavalry group is a military establishment at the division and regiment level, the group commander (actually equivalent to the commander of the cavalry division) is generally a lieutenant general. The first group leader was Usami Koya, and the next group leaders were: Hasunuma Fan, Kasai Heijuro, Inaba Shiro, Naito Shoichi (from Manchuria to North China at this time), and the current cavalry group leader is Lieutenant General Yoshida Nao.

In June 1938, the cavalry group was ordered to go to North China. The cavalry artillery company and the group combat convoy in the group were divided into two brigades and regiments. In addition, a brigade and regimental speed artillery unit was added. From then on, cavalry groups with strong mobility appeared in North China. Participated in the Battle of the Han River and the Battle of Gowon. In August 1938, the cavalry group was assembled in the area north of the New Yellow River in Henan Province. After the Battle of Xuzhou, the Central China Army was gathering troops in order to attack Wuhan. In order to ensure the fruits of the victory so far, the 2nd Army spent a considerable period of time in North China to recuperate and maintain law and order. After that, the 2nd Army moved south to prepare for the attack on Wuhan, and the whole of North China began to become empty. The cavalry group was ordered to make a feint and prepare to cross the New Yellow River after a false shot. The cavalry group was ordered to prepare for the crossing of the new Yellow River, but was finally ordered to stay put. Until 1939, the 1st Brigade and the 4th Brigade had carried out sweeping operations in the Guide area, and the 4th Brigade had carried out sweeping operations in the Kaifeng area.

In March 1939, the cavalry group was transferred to the North China Dispatch Army directly under the command of the combat sequence, and was responsible for maintaining law and order in a vast area centered on Beiping. At the same time, he actively prepared for war and prepared to make another deal with Han Yunhua's subordinates, but at this time, the 4th Cavalry Brigade in the group had been transferred to the 11th Army, and in fact, there was only the 1st Cavalry Brigade in the group, which was an empty shelf for the cavalry group. This time, in order to ensure that the surprise attack on Chengde could achieve the expected results, the Japanese North China Front Command ordered all units to concentrate all the cavalry and assign it to the cavalry group. ,

Lieutenant General Yoshida can be regarded as complacent during this time, although Lieutenant General Yoshida has always been in an important position, but he has not been happy since he became the leader of this bullshit cavalry group. Although the cavalry group is also a military unit at the division and regiment level, Nao Yoshida, an officer who has just been promoted to lieutenant general, can serve as such a real lack in the eyes of ordinary people, but only Naokada Yoshida knows that the commander of this cavalry group is a full jīrib. A seemingly huge establishment is actually just a cavalry brigade, said to be a cavalry division, but there is at least one brigade that cannot be mobilized outside all the year round, and if there is a combat mission that requires the cavalry group to fight, his cavalry unit can only act as a subordinate to do miscellaneous work, and sometimes can only act as a firefighting team and cannon fodder.

However, during this period of time, the progress of the war of the Imperial Japanese Army, especially the North China Front, has not been smooth, and now the entire Front Army is already in extreme danger, so General Binshan Yuan thought of Yoshida Nao's cavalry group, this time let the cavalry troops resist the big head General Binshan Yuan also took a great risk, the cavalry unit of the ancient military region of the Inner Méng General Binshan Yuan also knew very deeply, some time ago the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi suddenly appeared a lot of cavalry battalions and cavalry companies, This made the Xiangyue Qingji of Shanxi feel extremely annoyed, so after consulting Bin Shan Yuan, he sent two cavalry brigades to sweep the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi. However, Shanxi was the focus of the battle between China and Japan, so every move of the Japanese army made the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army set a strict and solid situation, and under the deliberate arrangement of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese cavalry unit was quickly hit by the method of fighting deep into the outer line.

Therefore, at the special request of Binshan Yuan, the Japanese army began to pay attention to collecting news about the cavalry units of the Eighth Route Army. Although there are not many cavalry units in the entire Eighth Route Army headquarters, each of them is extremely strong in combat effectiveness, although the weapons and equipment are still very primitive, and they are basically incomparable with the Japanese army, but both equestrian and slashing experience are very powerful. In particular, the momentum of not fearing death restrained the Japanese army to the death, although the Japanese army would kill a lot of Chinese cavalry every time, but it still could not rewrite the result of the defeat of the battle, so General Binshan Yuan was still very worried about letting the cavalry resist the big attack. Moreover, what worries General Binshanyuan the most is that after a long period of reconnaissance, the general person in charge of the Shanxi region of the special high-tech department reported to the headquarters of the North China Front Army, saying that almost all the cavalry formed by the Shanxi Eighth Route Army was transferred from the headquarters of Han Yunhua of the Inner Méng Ancient Military Region, which means that the cavalry of the Inner Méng Ancient Military Region is also as effective as the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters.

However, every time I think of the backward weapons and equipment used by the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army captured by the Japanese cavalry, General Binshan Yuan has a trace of confidence in his heart, and takes the most commonly used swords in cavalry combat, the Japanese cavalry was founded with the French cavalry as a sample, so the French standard saber with brass handle was originally used. The Japanese Army formalized the saber in 1897, and in 1899, it was improved and standardized, and it was called the 32-style saber. The 32-year saber is divided into two types: A and B: the 32-year saber is a special saber for cavalry, and the total length of the cavalry saber is 102 cm; The Type B 32-year saber is a saber used by non-commissioned officers of other arms, and the whole factory is 93 cm. However, the A-type 32-year-style saber is directly borrowed from the results of the Western-style saber, and the short handle causes the center of gravity of the saber to be biased towards the tip of the knife, which is conducive to stabbing and not conducive to cutting or splitting. The Type A 32-style saber had many other shortcomings, so the Japanese Army improved it in 1930 (Showa 5) and trial-made the 91-style saber. The blade of the Type 91 saber is slightly shorter than that of the Type A 32-year saber, and the handle is increased to adjust the position of the center of gravity of the saber. So far, the cavalry sabers that the Japanese Army has referenced or improved are Western-style sabers with handguards. Non-commissioned officers at the grassroots level generally complained that Western-style sabers with handguards were inconvenient to use. Therefore, the Japanese cavalry on horseback basically operated on the Chinese battlefield, and most of the sabers used were not improved.

In addition to some of the captured Japanese swords, the Chinese cavalry of the same period used old-fashioned cavalry knives, and some even used native Chinese broadswords. In addition to this, there is also a big difference in the cavalry rifles, the Chinese cavalry used the captured 4-type cavalry rifles and the 38-type rifles, while the Japanese cavalry used the 12-year cavalry rifles of the Qing Dynasty. ,

The biggest gap lies in the quantity and quality of ammunition, due to China's backward industrial production capacity, so Han Yunhua's department has always been unable to produce ammunition for cavalry guns, and the cavalry ammunition in the ancient military region of Inner Méng is in short supply. Unlike other types of troops, the Japanese cavalry wore a uniform with a bullet box on their shoulders, which contained rifle cartridges for combat. Although the cartridge box containing the cavalry rifle cartridge has not changed much over the years, there have been many improvements, including the cartridge belt. Soon after the outbreak of the 918 Incident, for the cavalry units engaged in reconnaissance and search missions, the existing cartridges at that time were indeed a little less. In order to solve the problem of low ammunition carrying, the cavalry introduced a new cavalry cloth belt known as the 44 cavalry belt. In addition to carrying a large number of bullets, the cloth cartridge belt used by the 44-type cavalry could also carry two additional grenades. At about the same time as the introduction of cloth cartridge belts for the 44-type cavalry, in order to ensure that the cavalry wore cloth cartridge belts around their waists, horse neck belts, and 44 cavalry rifles on their backs

At the same time, there are not any cavalry wings that have some horses that are specially used to tow bullets, taking the Type 92 heavy machine gun squad as an example, the Type 92 heavy machine gun weighs 55 kilograms, so each squad has five pack horses (one of which is a reserve horse), in addition to carrying machine guns, the standard is that each horse needs to carry four boxes of 540 rounds of ammunition, but in wartime, considering the impact of long-term marching, in fact, each horse is based on the principle of carrying two boxes. In the artillery wing, if the field artillery is not included in the horses of the artillery itself, the auxiliary vehicles of each artillery alone—the ammunition vehicle, the observation vehicle, and the reserve vehicle—require three horses. In the case of mountain artillery, after the mountain artillery is disassembled, it is carried by six horses in a pack mode, and the other bullets are carried by 12 shells per horse. Therefore, General Binshan Yuan still gave a high evaluation of this military operation of the cavalry group, and at the same time reported high expectations, although he did not dare to say that it was inevitable, but he absolutely wanted the cavalry troops to drag the Eighth Route Army in eastern Hebei as much as possible.

On the morning of August 30, the Japanese cavalry group finally took Dongping Fort, 50 kilometers east of Kuancheng, and opened the big mén leading to Chengde, and Lieutenant General Yoshida Nao also knew the real situation of the Japanese 20th Division and the last infantry brigade of the Yamashita Division in Xinghe County, so he did not dare to grind in Dongping Fort anymore.