The Central Plains dynasty often had no choice but to build the Great Wall as a defensive line. The biggest problem is that nomads have enough horses to come and go like the wind, and when they see the army coming, they can pack up and run away. Without enough horses, the troops of the Central Plains Dynasty will never catch up.
In order to defeat the nomadic people, the Central Plains people also began to imitate the nomadic people. King Wuling of Zhao was the first to ride and shoot in Hu suit, which not only defeated Zhongshan State, which often invaded Zhao, but also seized the land of Loufan, opened up thousands of miles of territory to the north, and set up Yunzhong, Yanmen and Daixian administrative regions, with the jurisdiction reaching today's Hetao area.
Later, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang was besieged in Deng Bai, and the cavalry suffered great losses. Later, the Han dynasty actively raised horses and introduced excellent varieties from the western regions. Finally, the Huns were defeated, and the Huns mourned: the loss of me in Yanqi Mountain made my daughter pale, and the loss of me in Qilian Mountain made my six animals unhappy.
Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, defeated the remnants of Xiongnu with an excellent cavalry sentence, and relieved the Xiongnu's threat to the Central Plains dynasty.
During the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, cavalry still played a decisive role in the war. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was the powerful cavalry who could defeat the Turks.
In the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the importance of cavalry was once again verified: with the powerful Mongolian cavalry government, the Mongolian dynasty reached as far as the Danube and the world. The Qing dynasty won the world by the Eight Banners cavalry.
Therefore, in the era of cold weapons, cavalry is the most important resource and strategic force of a country.
As the saying goes, "How can you be a general without a gun and a horse?" War horses are trucks and tanks in ancient battlefields. In the ancient battlefield dominated by cold weapons, war horses were very important war materials, and their importance was not even lower than that of grain, grass and weapons.
First of all, the war horse greatly improved the mobility of the army. The running speed and endurance of horses far exceed that of humans, especially when carrying heavy objects. Riding a horse can greatly increase the speed and distance of marching. The reason why ancient nomads were so fierce was that they all rode horses, traveled hundreds of miles, and often appeared in unexpected places, and the Central Plains Dynasty could not prevent them. Mongolian cavalry also dominates Europe because they can use mobility to move quickly, avoid the enemy's main force and concentrate on attacking the enemy's weak points.
The second war horse makes the offensive means diversified and effective. The impact and destructive power of cavalry is several times that of infantry. In the General History of the World, it is mentioned that when Frank cavalry charged with guns, there was a saying that when they charged with all their strength, they could even tear down a wall. Although this is a bit exaggerated, the impact of cavalry is really not low. Imagine how you would feel if a motorcycle rushed at you at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour. In the ancient battlefield, if the infantry formation was slightly dispersed, it would be difficult to resist the impact of cavalry, which is also the reason why the European knight culture prevailed, because cavalry was the absolute protagonist in the ancient battlefield.
The third war horse greatly increased the survival chances of soldiers. If we look at the cases of the Northern Song War recorded in the history of the Song Dynasty, we will find that Song Jun's winning rate is not low in the war with more than 10,000 people, but why is it still at a disadvantage? Because most of Song Jun's victories are rout battles, and Song Jun's main force is infantry, even if the northern minorities are defeated, because the other side's main force is cavalry, it is impossible to catch up and annihilate them. In other words, when riding a war horse, soldiers can "fight if they want, but run if they can't." And the party without a war horse will suffer, fail to catch up, lose it and run away.
In the era of cold weapons, the strongest army in the East was called "fighters" and the strongest soldiers in the West were called "knights". Whether in ancient portraits, sculptures or literary works, generals are riding horses, which fully shows the importance of war horses to the cold weapon era.
Similar to today's fighters.
In the cold weapon era of China, the war horse was the key factor to decide the outcome of the war.
With war horses, you can train cavalry, and with cavalry who can fight, you can run across the world.
Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Qin Dynasty
Since King Wuling of Zhao rode and shot, Zhao quickly became a powerful country, because Zhao had powerful cavalry and became a powerful country during the Warring States Period.
When Emperor Gaozu besieged Deng Bai, he had no choice but to make peace with the Xiongnu cavalry. Wen endured humiliation and accumulated strength, and went to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to train cavalry with his heart. Finally, he waited for a chance to get back at the Huns. Huo Qubing even took only a few hundred cavalry and went straight to Wang Ting, the Huns, who could only give up the Hetao area. At that time, the Huns sang like this:
Losing my mountain makes my woman colorless.
Losing Qilian Mountain makes me unhappy.
With Hetao, the great Han Dynasty finally solved the big problem of raising horses and training cavalry. After that, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing pursued Xiongnu with 654.38+ 10,000 cavalry, sealed the wolf in Xuzhou and sent troops to the North Sea, making "Xiongnu is far away, and there is no Wang Ting in the south of the desert".
Huo Qubing
With powerful cavalry, the Han Dynasty could develop its own strength and maintain its presence in the Western Regions. By the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, the nomadic people in the north were still no match for the Cao Wei regime in the Central Plains. One of the reasons was that Cao Wei had powerful cavalry at that time. Ma Chao's Xiliang fighters are also the elite of Shu, and Cao Cao, who once defeated him, almost died.
Many people are familiar with the history of the Three Kingdoms. Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Xiahou Guo, etc. Are excellent riders. At that time, the famous soldiers' mounts were also very famous, such as Red Rabbit, Lu Yu, Jueying and Yellow Claw Flying Electricity. The reasons why these horses were named in history confirmed the strength of cavalry in that period.
Wang Fuzhi, a famous writer in the late Ming Dynasty, said: "The country was destroyed by weakness, and the Han Dynasty died by strength." A powerful cavalry unit is an important part of Han's powerful military force.
From Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Sui and Tang Dynasties, cavalry was the core of the army and the elite of the elite.
Battle of feishui
In the rich Song Dynasty, foreign wars were more victorious and less defeated, and finally the Mongolian cavalry that swept the world perished. In addition to emphasizing literature and restraining martial arts, the fall of Hetao was a very important reason for the demise of the Song Dynasty. Because Hetao has always been a good place to raise horses, without Hetao, there is no basis for training cavalry. Without good cavalry, it is difficult to defeat the cavalry of Liao, Jin and Yuan in the war.
There were also powerful cavalry units in the early Ming Dynasty, so there were thirteen northern expeditions. The later period was also related to Ning Tieqi, the most elite army in the late Ming Dynasty. Later, when Wu Sangui started fighting in Yunnan, this army did not dare to fight with the Qing court.
By the Qing Dynasty, Mongolia was unified, the Central Plains was occupied and Xinjiang was recovered. "Jurchen is less than 10 thousand and invincible." The Eight Banners cavalry were invincible and unified China.
Copper military array
Therefore, in the era of cold weapons, cavalry is a proof of the strength of a dynasty. With good war horses, there will be good cavalry.
Means of transportation, equivalent to Mercedes-Benz BMW.
I don't know much about this. As far as I am concerned, the mobility of cavalry can kill everything that runs on the ground without roads.