Fifth, the mercenaries of the Eastern Jin Dynasty gate lord - Beifu soldiers

"The Book of Jin: The Biography of Liu Gao": "At the beginning of the Taiyuan Dynasty, Xie Xuanbei Town Guangling. Shi Fujian Fang Sheng, Xuan Duo recruited vigorously, and he was elected with He Qian of the East China Sea, Zhuge Kan of Langxi, Gao Heng of Le'an, Liu Liang of Dongping, Luo of Xihe Tian and Sun Wuzhong of Jinling. Xuan took the prison as the army, led the elite as the vanguard, won a hundred battles, and was called the Beifu soldier. ”

"Qualification Tongjian": "Xuan recruited brave people, got Pengcheng Liu Jiaozhi and several other people, with Liu Gaozhi as the army, often leading the elite as the forward, invincible, and the time was called Beifu soldiers. ”

The Xie family, the gate lord of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, integrated the northern refugees, hooligans, and the elite of the original garrison to form an army that was enough to defend the Beijing division, which was enough to resist the northern cavalry and indirectly obeyed the orders of the gate lord - the Beifu soldiers.

The Xie family's integration of the Beifu soldiers had a great impact on their own family, the politics of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and even the political situation in China.

In August 383, the former Qin Fu Jian personally led 600,000 infantry, 270,000 cavalry, and 30,000 Yu Linlang, a total of 900,000 troops from Chang'an to the south. ”

Xie Xuan sent Liu Gaozhi to lead 5,000 elite Beifu troops to attack Luojian, breaking the former Qin army of 50,000 and killing 15,000 enemies, and the Beifu soldiers won the first battle. In the decisive battle of Weishui, Xie Xuan's 8,000 Beifu cavalry took advantage of Fu Jian's army to retreat, crossed the river and stormed the former Qin army array, the former Qin army collapsed instantly, Fu Jian's younger brother Fu Rong was killed in battle, and Fu Jian himself was shot and fled.

In the first battle of Weishui, 8,000 Beifu soldiers broke the main force of the Qin army, and history records: 700,000 people of the former Qin army were killed and annihilated! Fu Jian's dynasty collapsed as a result.

Later, the Beifu soldiers cleaned up Huan Xuan, until 2000 Beifu elite soldiers followed Liu Yu to Jiankang to claim the emperor, and the Beifu soldiers influenced China for decades.

Although strictly speaking, there are several periods of "Beifu soldiers", but in general, from the beginning of the integration of the Xie family, the Beifu soldiers have become a veritable elite army, and the famous generals of this army such as Liu Jiaozhi and Liu Yu have also become pivotal figures.

Since Xie Xuan's integration, the Beifu soldiers have become mercenaries of the gate valve, and the command of the Eastern Jin Dynasty court is ineffective.

Beifu Bing was selected because he had both strong combat effectiveness and a strong influence on the political situation.

Fourth, a generation of Tianjiao's guards - the cowardly Xue army

"Yuan History: Soldier Zhi II": The guardian, the forbidden soldier of the Son of Heaven. When Fang Taizu, Mu Huali, Chi Lao Wen, Bolhu, and Bolshu were the four cowardly Xue, and the cowardly Xue was divided into Su Wei when the number was called Liban Qulu, and the four masters were also said to be the chief of the cowardly Xue in his life. Those who are cowardly are still talking about the guard.

In the fourth year of Taihe, Genghis Khan formed the Cowardly Xue Army, selected the elite, and the number was not large. Later, the cowardly Xue army was expanded to more than 10,000 people, mainly composed of nobles, generals and other meritorious children, each ordinary cowardly Xue army soldier has the salary and rank of an ordinary general, its commander is even more extraordinary, there are four people, they are the "four masters" in the early Yuan Dynasty: Mu Huali, Chi Lao Wen, Bolhu, Bolshu, and was named "four cowardly Xue".

Historical evaluation: This cowardly Xue army built the foundation of the Mongol Empire!

As the pearl of Genghis Khan's palm, the cowardly Xue army will naturally not be used at will, and its role is mainly to maintain Genghis Khan's rule.

However, due to the fact that the martial arts of the Mongols, especially Genghis Khan, are too dazzling, too shocking, and too amazing, it is really unreasonable for the elite troops to lack the Mongolian elite soldiers, and the Cowardly Xue Army is undoubtedly the most representative.

Third, the real elite at the end of the Ming Dynasty - Yiding Tucai

"Ming Ji Beiluo" records: (Wu Sangui) has 40,000 elite soldiers and 780,000 Liao people, all of whom are resistant to fighting. And Yiding rode thousands of horses, which was particularly majestic. The enemy is gone.

Wu Sangui guarded the Shanhaiguan, and the main force in his hands was the "Guanning Army" trained by Yuan Chonghuan, this group army was the essence of the Ming Dynasty army, and it was also the main force that affected China's political situation.

Li Zicheng led the main force of the Dashun army to march into Shanhaiguan, under the fierce offensive of the Dashun army, Wu Sangui's defense system gradually collapsed, the north wing of the city is the breakthrough of Li Zicheng's choice, and it is about to be breached, fortunately, Wu Sangui personally led the "Yiding Assault" to support, only to block the offensive of the Dashun army, even at the most critical moment, Wu Sangui still relied on his own elite soldiers hundreds of people to kill out of the encirclement to the Qing army for help.

In this great war that changed the course of Chinese history, the "Yiding Assault Cavalry" under Wu Sangui played a role in turning the tide several times. This unit "signed twenty of them, wrote the names of the team leaders, and inserted them in the boots." In case of urgency, subject to the signature of a certain person, a certain will lead the ride with it, and the conflict will not be unfavorable."

It is important to know that the Liaodong soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are the elite troops of the world, and the "Yiding Tucai" was Wu Sangui's pro-army in the early days, and he became a member of the party in the later period, and this army has also grown a lot, and the essence of the Guanning army is here. Therefore, it is said that the Guanning Army is a collection of the world's elite, and the Yiding Turquoise is a collection of the elite of the Guanning Army.

It was selected because Yuan Chonghuan single-handedly formed the essence of the Guanning Army, which was enough to fight against the Manchu Eight Banners, was here.

Second, Li Shimin's sword - Xuanjia Army

"Zizhi Tongjian" recorded: "The Qin Dynasty elected more than 1,000 elite horsemen, all dressed in armor, divided into left and right teams, so that Qin Shubao, Cheng Zhijie, Wei Chi Jingde, and Zhai Changsun were divided into generals. In every battle, the people of the world were taken as the vanguard by the Xuanjia Shuai, taking the opportunity to attack, and everything was destroyed, and the enemy was afraid of it. ”

Li Shimin created the pinnacle of China's feudal society, and one of his great swords for founding the country was the "Xuanjia Army".

In the Battle of the Tang Xia Tiger Prison, Li Shimin led thousands of Tang troops to confront more than 100,000 Xia troops, including 3,500 "Xuanjia Army".

Li Shimin once used 1,000 elite soldiers to defeat Wang Shichong and beheaded more than 6,000 prisoners. In the battle of the Tiger Prison Pass that decided the ownership of the world, Dou Jiande led more than 100,000 elite main forces to support Wang Shichong, and Li Shimin only used 3,500 Xuanjia elite soldiers to reinforce the Tiger Prison Pass, and as a result, Dou Jiande broke more than 100,000 people, Dou Jiande only led hundreds of horsemen to escape, and then, Wang Shichong of Luoyang was also eliminated. The situation in the world completely turned to the side of the Don Army.

There is the Tang Dynasty, martial arts were strong for a while, the title of "Heavenly Khan" is by no means in vain, Li Shimin relied on his genius military ability to create an era, and the Xuanjia Army is the sharpest sword in his hand! Bai Juyi praised: "Taizong raised volunteers in the eighteenth year, and Bai Ming and Huang Yue set two capitals. Capture and kill Dou Sihaiqing, and four achievements in twenty. ”

It was selected because the Tang Dynasty was the strongest in the world at that time, and the Xuanjia Army was the strongest army in the Tang Dynasty.

1. The legend of undefeated - the Yue family's back army

Yunlu Man's Money" recorded: "Han and Yue soldiers are especially fine, often in the middle of the army to corner their brave and healthy people, don't put their own with the army, called the back, once into the back, the armies are under control, and they are bowed, rewarded abnormally, brave and healthy, where there is a strong enemy, send the back of the army, there is no one who is not broken." ”

Among the four generals of Zhongxing in the Southern Song Dynasty, Yue Fei's Yuejia Army was the most powerful, and his "Beiwei Army" was the elite of the elite, and it is no exaggeration to say that this army represents the essence of the "Yuejia Army".

There are many understandings of the name of "Beiwei Army": one says that Wei originally refers to a wine bottle, and the handsome wine bottle must be taken by cronies, so it is called a cronie. One says it's a leather card. There is also a brave man in front of the general's tent. said that this was a saying, and Yue Fei just borrowed the word.

Yue Ke's "Eguo Jin Tuo Edition" volume 22 "Huaixi Distinction" cloud: "The people who carry the back, the pro-army of the ancestors", and said that "Yingchang and Zhu Xian all won with the army".

Yue Fei's Yuejia army had about 100,000 people at its peak, which can be divided into: the front army, the rear army, the left army, the right army, the middle army, the Youyi army, the white army, the Xuanfeng army, the victory and the victory army, the enemy breaking army, the water army and the back army. Among them, there were 8,000 cavalry and thousands of infantry.

In a series of battles between Shao and the Jin army in Yingchang and Yuncheng, the Beiwei army played a mainstay role.

In the first battle of Yuncheng, Yue Fei's Beiwei army first broke the elite "kidnapping horse" of the Jin army with infantry, and then rushed into the enemy formation with a very small number of elite cavalry, and finally defeated the 15,000 elite cavalry of Wushu. Yue Fei's recital said: "Kill the thieves and soldiers."

Wushu was unwilling to fail, gathered 30,000 cavalry to attack Yingchang again, Yue Yun fought a decisive battle with 800 cavalry of the Wei Army, and once again broke the elite cavalry of the Jin army of Wushu, and killed "people are bloody people, horses are bloody horses", and the large army then followed up, "Kill the Wushu son-in-law Xia Jinwu, the deputy commander of the army Sticky Han Suo Jinjin, and the Wushu escaped."

In Zhuxian Town, 500 elite soldiers broke more than 100,000 gold troops.

No wonder the Jin people sighed with the emotion of "shaking the mountain and regretting the difficulty of the Yue family".

At that time, the combat effectiveness of the Song army had been greatly improved, and it did not suffer a loss in fighting against the Jin army, and Yue Fei's Beiwei army created a classic example of "infantry defeating the elite cavalry of the Jin people on the plain".

The myth of "the pigtail army is less than 10,000 and is invincible" has been broken more than once by the back army, and perhaps this sentence should be changed to the subject: "The back army is less than 10,000, and the enemy is not satisfied with 10,000"!

Yuan Fu's "Mengzhai Collection" praises the military road: the military and horses of the back are not in battle, and they have exhausted the several columns of the year.