Thank you all for your support, continue today.

Yesterday I talked about infantry, and today I will talk about two other important arms, cavalry and crossbowmen.

The infantry was the strongest in the Qin army after the Wei Wushu and Shang Yang changes during the Warring States Period, but the cavalry was not.

This is directly related to the changes in military technology in ancient times.

During the Spring and Autumn period, everyone played charioteers. There are many reasons for this, and I won't say much about it. During this period, weapons and equipment were basically copper-based alloys. You read that right, it's alloys. The sword unearthed from the tomb of King Goujian of Yue is extremely sharp, and it has not been damaged for many years, so don't underestimate the level of ancient smelting. In the Bronze Age, bronze was not brass, it was an alloy smelting industry based on copper and tin. (In ancient China, there was industry, although it was relatively primitive, but the craftsmen of the Qin State who did not unify the world were tens of thousands, with special production workshops and semi-assembly line operations.) Each weapon has a craftsman number on it, and it is directly responsible for quality problems. This is also one of the reasons why I say that the organizational and logistical capabilities of the Qin and Han dynasties were several times stronger than those of the two Song dynasties. With the flourishing of Confucianism, this technical system came to an end. ）

During the Warring States period, with the perfection of bronze technology and the use of iron tools, infantry became the main frontal force, and charioteers were eliminated. However, the cavalry of this period was not strong, because there were no stirrups and saddle techniques, and the cavalry only had scouts, heralds, and mounted infantry. In the absence of that kind of equipment, it is difficult to borrow strength on a horse, a weapon touches, people have to fall off the horse, can be under this condition on the horse to fight are the masters of the army, riding extremely exquisite. Therefore, the cavalry at this time could not rush into battle, and they were not the main force of the war.

But in the Han Dynasty, after the popularization of this technology, cavalry began to fork, which could directly determine the situation of the war. This is not to say that you can directly lead the cavalry to charge into battle without brains, but you can swing the characteristics of the cavalry's mobility and flexibility, swing the physical advantage of the horse, and restrain the infantry. At a critical time, the cavalry aimed at the vital impact of the infantry array, which can also be decided. (So, the cavalry will never be thrown into battle in the first wave.) They all use infantry to fight a stalemate first and find out the flaws on the opposite side. In addition, the cavalry impact is very strong, and it is very lethal to the infantry, especially the array. But when he rushed into battle, his own losses were just as great. Cavalry costs 3 to 5 times as much as infantry. So no idiot uses cavalry as a tank. ）

I'll make a cavalry ranking here. In terms of comprehensive strength, the cavalry of the Northern and Southern armies of the Han Dynasty was the first, the Sui and Tang armies were second, the Yuan army was third, the Xiongnu and Turks were fourth, and the Jin and Western Xia were fifth.

In terms of horsemanship alone, the Northern and Southern armies of the Han Dynasty were not weaker than the grassland peoples, but the later dynasties were inferior to the grasslands. After all, people grew up on horseback, and all of them are skilled in riding.

But the problem of the steppe people is that their organizational skills are not strong (Yuan is the strongest steppe soldier, or average. But it is much stronger than that of the Ming and Qing dynasties), and then the level of the art of war is generally not strong. Don't tell me they don't have the art of war, they definitely have. You look at the Heaven and Dragon Slayer, and you can know the martial arts on the Persian Order. It's just that their level of art of war is not high, and because there are too few literate people, it is difficult to pass it on, so they can't show it. Therefore, the art of war of the steppe is, to put it bluntly, simple and practical, easy to learn and easy to understand. Buddies who play LoL can be understood as playing routines. Isn't the Yuan army just two routines, the global flow plus the poke flow. The global flow refers to the fact that the Mongol cavalry is numerous, fast, and has strong support capabilities. Poke refers to them playing riding and archery and flying kites. You see, when the Mongol soldiers fought in Europe, when did they dare to go head-to-head with the knights? They pressed the knights and beat them, not because of how strong their combat strength was, but because of their tactics. You look at the European side, first, the European art of war is really too upright, it can be summed up in one sentence: don't coward, brainless is to do. Second, there are too many countries and the command is chaotic. Even if someone who understands the art of war knows the problem and can come up with tactics, they can't arrange corresponding tactics. Isn't it nonsense that you expect 5 passers-by to follow the command and fight against poke? Third, you lack the ability to open a strong group, and you don't know how to set up an ambush. So I couldn't catch up, I didn't control it, and the combat effectiveness of the long-range bow and crossbow was also crushed. That's still a fart, it's normal to be abused by the Yuan army.

So don't mythologize Genghis Khan, he is good, but at that level, it's just that the routine has never been broken.

You see that Jin Guo's Jin Wushu also likes to play routines, abducting horses (light cavalry flanks on both wings, which is also the trick of the Yuan army) plus Tiefutu (heavy cavalry), but when he ran into Yue Fei, he was beaten out of Xiang.

In addition, as long as there is war, there must be martial arts and the art of war. The larger the scale of the war, the higher the level of the war, and the faster and more perfect the display of martial arts, the art of war, equipment, and logistics. Therefore, modern equipment and logistics are absolutely crushing the ancients. However, because of the hot weapons used, the importance of martial arts exhibition is not high. Forget about the art of war, foreigners are too upright. The modern art of war displayed by foreigners is also at that level. (This is a historical inheritance, thousands of years of accumulation, not decades can advance by leaps and bounds, everyone is just stunned by the achievements of the foreigners at the weapons and equipment exhibition.) In ancient Europe, tens of thousands of people fought on a large scale. In China, that's nothing, every year, every region. In ancient times, there were not hundreds of thousands of people in China, so you are embarrassed to call it a big war? There were many people with a million people. ）

Some people may ask, then why is the art of war the strongest in the Warring States period, and the Qin army's organizational and logistical capabilities the strongest. The reason is not complicated, during the Warring States Period, a hundred schools of thought contended, the mind was emancipated, and Cheng Dù passed through the European Renaissance! Later dynasties respected Confucianism, and the literati were all fucking Confucianism! And the Confucian policy program was to suppress commerce, manufacturing, the army, diplomacy, and technology exhibitions. Recite all the four books and five classics to me. You said that in this case, you still have a fart, just look at the speed of regression.

Tips: The new domain name "biquge.info" has been launched by Biquge, and the original domain name is about to be discontinued. Please tell each other, thank you!