In terms of cavalry weapons, Zhang Jiashi intended to use thick-backed scimitars and crossbows. These two weapons should have some advantages in the face of the Huns in close combat and at a certain distance.

In particular, when using these crossbows, the cavalry did not need to be as skilled as using a bow and arrow, and only needed to be able to exert a certain combat efficiency without dropping the horse during the charge.

However, the reloading of the crossbow is more difficult, and Zhang Jiashi realized that a skilled crossbow cavalry will also slow down the sprinting speed of the horse on the premise of stabilizing the center of gravity when loading the crossbow, so that once most of the crossbow cavalry needs to be loaded, the sprint formation is easy to be confused.

In order to avoid this problem affecting the combat efficiency of the cavalry unit and even becoming an opportunity to be counterattacked by the enemy, Zhang Jiashi thought about it for a while and decided to include the javelin that he had abandoned into the test again.

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The javelin can be said to be an early human invention. Among them are the ingenious axe and the bone javelin, which were hunting weapons in the Paleolithic Age. Iron javelins were used in the armies of ancient Greece and Rome. The light infantry of the Greek Spartans could throw javelins from 20 to 60 meters away. The spear of the ancient Roman hoplites was about 1,5-2 meters long and weighed 4-5 kilograms, and its spear had a long iron tip attached to a wooden handle and was thrown for 30 meters. To make the javelin throw farther.

Some javelins are equipped with belt loops to increase the throwing force key, Roman infantry mostly threw javelins before charging, after piercing the opponent's shield, the barb on the javelin made it extremely difficult to pull out the javelin and affect the defensive effect of the enemy's shield, if you want to pull out the javelin, the shield will be destroyed, and the javelin is a basic throwing weapon in the tribes that do not know how to use bows and arrows and those who do not use bows and arrows. In Western Europe, javelins were practiced until the Middle Ages. In Russia, the javelin is a short-throw gun.

The javelin is first mentioned in the book "The Expedition of Bangor". In China's primitive society, the javelin existed, but it did not become a regular weapon of the army until the Song Dynasty, also known as the "shuttle gun". The Mongol army of the Yuan Dynasty made good use of javelins, the pole was short and sharp, and the guns had several kinds of quadrangular, triangular and round, most of which had blades at both ends, which could not only stab the enemy immediately, but also throw and kill the enemy.

In the Ming Dynasty army, there was a javelin with a blade at both ends, which was 68 centimeters long and had a blade of 23 centimeters long. The pointed tail is 7 cm long, the two ends are pointed, the middle is thick, there are long arrows, and both ends can pierce people, which is easy to throw. The javelins of the Qing Dynasty mostly used wood and bamboo as the handle to add iron arrowheads, slightly like the Ming system. There is also a kind of javelin used for guarding, the barrel is shorter, the shaft is 6 inches long, the wooden handle is 1.8----1.9 feet long, and it weighs less than 2 catties. The javelin made of pure iron is shorter, "less than 2 feet in length, weighs no more than 4 catties, and the skilled can shoot the enemy within 50 steps."

Around 300 B.C., ancient Rome gradually developed a legion combat system consisting of detachments. For the first time in the military history of mankind, a soldier who fights alone is freed from the shackles of dense formations and receives the necessary support from his flanks and back. All this was achieved with the adoption and refinement of the two iconic individual weapons, the heavy javelin and the Roman short sword, and it was thanks to the adoption and refinement of these two weapons that the ancient Roman legions were possible.

The heavy javelin is a type of javelin that appeared in the 3rd century BC, along with the Roman dagger. According to research, javelins have been around since the Paleolithic period. The ancient Roman army experimented with many different types of javelins, and it was not until the second century BC that they were largely finalized, mainly using heavy javelins. But there are also classifications such as light javelins and ultralight javelins. All javelins are about 2 meters long and thrown with one hand, it is half a metal rod and half made of wood. In order to connect the two parts of the javelin, with the exception of the light javelin, two or three rivets were usually made, and from the time of the general Marius in ancient Rome, one of the pins was made of wood, so that the javelin could easily break when inserted into the shield or the human body, making it impossible for the enemy to use it again. Later, by the time of Julius Caesar, a hard iron tip was added to the soft metal rod so that the javelin was more penetrating. At the same time, the front half of the javelin was also replaced with lead, and the lead part bent after hitting the target, making it more difficult to pull out. The javelin also became an important weapon usually carried by the ancient Roman legionnaires.

The ancient Roman legions were the basic combat units, each legion was about 6,000 people, divided into 10 brigades, each brigade was divided into 3 detachments, and each detachment was divided into 2 centurions. The first two platoons of the detachment were equipped with throwable javelins, and the third platoon was armed with long guns. After Marius's reforms, the three arrays of the Roman legions were abolished, and all soldiers were uniformly equipped and carried javelins.

The Roman legions were dominated by infantry, cavalry was not the main force, but could only be regarded as an auxiliary force, and in the event of a battle, the legionary infantry threw javelins when the two sides approached a distance of 20 meters, and finally basically relied on short swords and shields to achieve victory in hand-to-hand combat.

The use of javelin daggers, combined with the formation of detachments, allowed the emergence of highly mobile legions in ancient Rome. It was with this kind of legion that the ancient Roman Empire broke out of Italy and conquered the entire Mediterranean region.

There were three main standards for the Roman javelin:

Light Javelin: When the iron rod is forged, the bottom is in the shape of a hollow ring sleeve and is mounted on a wooden pole.

Heavy Javelin: The range is around 27 meters, and it has lethality within 18 meters.

Ultra-light javelin: When fighting against the Hun army, the Roman legions were no longer the same as those of Caesar, the infantry equipment changed greatly, the heavy javelin used by the Roman infantry was gradually replaced by an ultra-light javelin, this javelin was essentially an improved version of the heavy javelin, the iron rod was slimmer and softer, weighing only 2 kg, although the penetration was slightly worse, but due to the addition of a spherical handle behind the connector, the javelin was more balanced in the flight of the throw, and the range could reach 50 meters.

The structure of the Roman javelin is mainly as follows:

Head: about 5 cm long, square cone-shaped, forged with harder iron, between the cone like a knife edge, quite sharp.

Irons: about 70 cm long and 0.75 cm in diameter, with a bottom forged into a narrow iron piece to insert into the wooden pole.

Joint: about 15 cm long, and the wooden pole belongs to the whole, in close combat can also protect the soldier's hands, the top of the wooden pole is carved into a square cone, the seam is used to clamp the iron rod, and then fixed with two or three iron rivets, the top of the connector is also equipped with a metal hoop to protect the connection between the wooden pole and the iron rod.

Pole: about 120 cm long, made of whole piece of qin or oak, cylindrical, about 3 cm in diameter.

Pole sleeve: A conical iron sleeve is attached to the bottom of the pole to prevent the pole from abrasion and corrosion when the javelin is erected on the ground.

Throwing weapons: The Roman legion's javelin, of course, was used for throwing, but it wasn't too lethal, and even the heavy javelin wasn't as good as it was thought to be able to pierce three or four enemies at a time.

According to the available data, the Javelin's function is to disrupt enemy formations, make enemy shields unusable, and if lucky, pin together stacked shields in dense enemy formations. Heavy javelins inflict casualties on enemies as a side effect, but there are other more effective ways to kill enemies, as Legionnaires draw their short swords and charge with shields to strike the enemy in melee combat.

Regardless of whether the target is hit or not, the soft iron will bend due to impact, preventing the enemy from throwing it back, and can be recycled and reworked after the battle.

Due to the barbed design of the iron spear head, it was difficult to pull it out once the javelin pierced the enemy's shield or armor, and even if the wooden pole was cut, the iron rod tens of centimeters long became a burden to the winning bidder, making him unable to move, so he had to abandon his protective equipment.

Melee Lance: By the 1st century BCE, all legions were equipped with reinforced javelins, which could be thrown or used as spears for hand-to-hand combat, and could be used as a powerful melee spear if held in the hand.

As the importance of cavalry became apparent on the battlefield, the javelins of the Roman legions gradually evolved, and by the middle of the third century, although various derivatives of the javelin were still widely used until the Byzantine period, the most iconic heavy javelin had declined, and the infantry used more heavy lances similar to the Macedonian phalanx.

And in general, the Western javelin has been around since the Paleolithic period. In the Greek and Macedonian armies, at the beginning of the battle, auxiliary units used javelins to demoralize the enemy, open breaches or harass their flanks.

The ancient Roman army experimented with many different types of javelins, and by the second century BC it seems to have been largely established. This javelin is easy to throw and has a lot of penetration. It is half metal rod and half wood. That is, a 4.5-foot-long iron rod is inserted into a 4.5-foot-long wooden pole with a total length of about seven feet.

To connect the two parts of the javelin, two dowels are usually used. From the time of General Marius in ancient Rome, one of these two pins was wooden, so that the javelin could easily break when inserted into a shield or body. Later, in the time of Julius Caesar, a hard iron tip was added to the soft metal rod, so that the javelin would bend without breaking after penetrating the shield or the human body, but it was more difficult to pull it out again.

Heavy javelins are thrown with one hand, with a maximum throw distance of about sixty feet, but in reality they often don't go that far. When fighting, the legionnaires throw in unison, so that the maximum psychological deterrent effect can be achieved.

In order to increase the hit rate and sometimes increase the projection distance, a rope was wound around the wooden pole of the heavy javelin, and the javelin was rotated and flew forward with a strong pull in the moment of projection. If it happened to penetrate the enemy's shield, the shield would be useless, and the shield-wielding soldiers would have to let the ancient Roman soldiers rush up and slash with their short swords.

If the angle of incidence of the heavy javelin is 45° or more, it can penetrate the chest armor and helmet. If you hold the heavy javelin in your hand, you can use it as a powerful melee spear. At first, the heavy javelin was only an auxiliary weapon to the sword, but by the first century BC it had become as important as the sword.

The soldiers of the ancient Roman legions usually carried these two weapons, one heavy and one light.

The use of the dagger and the development of highly mobile legions consisting of detachments brought the ancient Roman legions to the stage of maximum combat effectiveness. This highly mobile corps replaced the earlier phalanx formations.

And there is a theory that there were also units of javelin cavalry in China at the end of the Han Dynasty.

Ma Chao's military formation is different, the front army is a dense shield soldier defense force, the strength and weight of the shield far exceed the ordinary army, the bow and arrow protection is excellent, the rear is the use of spears and javelins of the attack troops, the whole army is arranged into a square array of inlaid with each other, and the Central Plains army commonly used in the overall formation, after the Ma Chao army formation is placed, each department is independent of each other, but also can cover each other, staggered. The cavalry on which the Cao army relied to win can only plunder at the edge of the formation, unable to form an effective breakthrough. At the same time, the cavalry with a large target must be attacked by dense javelins at any time. Ma Chao's cavalry is all light cavalry, and the configuration is separated from the infantry, and it is not the main force, but for the use of surprise attack team, good at fighting from the infantry formation suddenly killed, so in the actual combat there is a surprise attack on the Cao army headquarters, Cao jumped into the water to escape the wonderful example.

In addition, there are many places where Ma Chao's army was influenced by ancient Rome, such as the main general of the Battle of Fenmeng Pass and slowly retreated, which was the trick of the ancient Roman army to cover the retreat alternately, and the armies of Marius and Pompey not only thwarted the pursuit of the barbarians many times, but even the well-informed Liu Bei couldn't help but praise it; When advancing and retreating, Ma Chao, as the commander, always fought on the front flank of the lineup facing the enemy side, similar to the position of the Roman commander; The establishment of the Xiliang army is a department, for example, Han Sui's subordinates are ten, and a department of about 4000-5000 soldiers, which is in line with the establishment of a legion in ancient Rome.

So, thousands of miles away, where did the Ma Chao legion learn the military ideas and techniques of ancient Rome?

The special military thinking of the Ma Chao Army has a deep relationship with the influence of the remnants of the Crassus Army in the Western Regions.

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Zhang Jiashi's intention was to use a wooden rod as the main body, and then wrap the tip of the gun with pig iron sheet polishing.

This javelin is more of a weapon that is easier for cavalry units to carry, so its length is not too long, generally around fifty centimeters.

However, after corresponding tests, this wooden short javelin is too light to be unsatisfactory in throwing at medium and long distances, and even cannot reach the predetermined limit.

This is very fatal for a cavalry unit that pursues a coherent strike effect, especially when the enemy is the Huns, and cannot bring casualties to the Huns at a certain distance, then for these cavalry, it is very likely that the Huns' cavalry counterattack will be successful.

Therefore, after a period of testing, Zhang Jiashi set his sights on a kind of "double-headed short spear" used by the Mongol cavalry - the Barcha throwing spear.

The point of the Barcia spear is to be double-stabbed, which means that even for some recruits, they will not do any damage if they hit an enemy after throwing the tip of the spear without a tip.

Moreover, the weight of the Barcia spear is better than that of ordinary spears, because the two sections are wrapped in iron sheets and the sharp spear head, and the balance and stability are better than those of ordinary spears.

However, due to the increase in the weight of the throwing spear, the throwing distance is weakened to a certain extent.