What's the difference between cavalry and archers?

European cavalry is dominated by heavy cavalry, while China (including ethnic minorities) is dominated by light cavalry, but it does not mean that there is no heavy cavalry in China and no light cavalry in Europe. Mongolian hussars opened in June. A heavy cavalry in Europe needed three followers, and fell off his horse, unable to stand on his own feet (once during the Crusade, a heavy cavalry in Europe met a light cavalry in Turkey, and 3,000 people were killed. They can't get up and get hurt, of course, because their armor is thick and fewer people die. Their impact speed is less than 20 km/h, and they are easy to get tired. However, their impact power is amazing. In the case of a considerable number of people, almost no army in the world can stop them. They usually use spears, hammers, sabres and other stabbing weapons to win through collective charge and the combination of strength and armor. China's cavalry are mostly light cavalry, throwing weapons are mostly crossbows and even small slingshots. When fighting, light cavalry first attacks the enemy with throwing weapons, finds the enemy's weakness, weakens the enemy's defense, and then puts in heavy cavalry to attack. Of course, on the whole, the heavy cavalry in Europe is superior to the heavy cavalry in China (mainly Han heavy cavalry) in training, equipment and experience. China pays less attention to heavy cavalry than Europe, which is related to the environment and history of both sides. The emergence of heavy cavalry in China is inseparable from the invention and wide use of horse stool. At present, the earliest horse stool found in China archaeology appears on the knight figurines in Yongning, Western Jin Dynasty. The trench coat has no interest in the study of horse stool, so I just want to say a few words here: the horse stool provides the conditions for cavalry to better control their own war horses, and also provides the necessary conditions for the emergence of China's heavy armor-armored riding equipment.

The History of Armor Riding Equipment Speaking of armor, people who are interested in historical films will think of Brave Heart and Dunhuang. But what really embodies the ancient heavy cavalry is the brave heart. A Dunhuang with Sino-Japanese cooperation has too many historical mistakes and even more wrong equipment.

The standard waistcoat in the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China was called "Armor Riding" in history, which consisted of six parts: a face curtain; Chicken neck; When the chest; Ships; After riding; Parasitic. Of course, it is also equipped with a saddle. The "face curtain" is a long and narrow metal cover with eye holes to protect the horse's face; "Chicken neck" is actually a pair of armor of a horse's neck, which consists of nail plates with buttons on the front; When the chest; Ships; After riding, it is a large piece of armor in front, middle and back of the horse; Parasitism has its own characteristics, just like an upturned broom on a ponytail. A war horse equipped in this way is difficult to kill directly unless the infantry rushes to cut the horse's leg. So does the infantry have such an opportunity? This is about the use of armored cavalry.

In the Western Han Dynasty, there were only light cavalry in China, and all the horses were shirtless. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the chests of war horses began to be loaded with leather "boxes". It is recorded in Bao Yongchuan. During the Three Kingdoms period, relatively perfect vests began to appear, but this kind of equipment was very precious at that time. Cao Cao said in the military and political order that Yuan Shao had three hundred armour, and then he said bitterly that his army didn't even have ten armour.

By the time of the battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao's tens of thousands of cavalry troops were still only a few hundred armour, and the proportion of heavy cavalry only accounted for 3% of all cavalry. At this time, the armor is still leather armor, and the front end of the spear can still penetrate the armor.

By the time we reached the Five Lakes and Sixteen Kingdoms in the war world, almost all the great commanders and helmsmen found that armor was the same lovely equipment. At this time, there are even tens of thousands of vests in a battle! ! ! In the battle of Schleswig-Holstein to destroy Mopi, he captured 5,000 pieces of armor, and in the battle of his old man's house to defeat Ji Lian, he captured tens of thousands of pieces of armor. In addition, this time China's armor has begun to use large iron pieces to increase the defense of armor.

When it comes to the use of armored riding gear, we can't help but briefly introduce the armored equipment and weapons of cavalry in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. At that time, the most common cavalry equipment was "Dimethyl", which was widely used in the Western Han Dynasty. There are armor on the chest and back, and suspenders on the shoulders. "Bright armor" is more expensive and has better protection effect. The "mirror protector" in China's traditional romance novels is actually a variant of bright armor. The details of the armor are written in another article, so I won't expand it here. At that time, the most distinctive weapon used by cavalry was Zhi.

According to Shi Ming, it is ten feet long; Take the Northern and Southern Dynasties as an example. It was made by Liang Datong in the Southern Dynasties and is 24 feet long. I'm not sure about the ratio between the China ruler and the modern metric system. Generally speaking, the pole of ten feet and eight feet used by cavalry is estimated to be between two and three meters, so it will be more than four meters in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. This is only my estimate. Readers who have a clear Chinese ruler should also convert it for themselves. How long were the poles in the Southern and Northern Dynasties? In this case, the use of fighters is more clear.

The English cavalry in Brave Heart is a pure light cavalry in China, but the plot of the cavalry rushing into the array in the film is very real. Let me simulate the process of the galloping of iron fighters in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Rest stage: In order to save the horse's physical strength, the cavalry stands on the ground, perhaps resting, or draws out the equipped crossbow to volley once or twice. Preparation stage: the cavalry mounted their horses and raised their spears, broadswords and halberds. Start adjusting the formation. Slow-moving stage: The armored steed begins to move forward and enter the killing radius of the enemy crossbow. Trot stage: The steed begins to take heavy steps (the burden is really not light) and start the first half sprint. Charge stage: the front is the enemy line! The horse began to sprint, the iron hoof shook the earth, the cavalry roared, and the flat end rushed into the enemy line.

Compared with China, there is no real vest in Europe. The most common thing they do is to wrap a piece of cloth around the horse, which is more decorative than practical. Their knights wore lobster armor. When I have time, I will write a comparison of armor between China and Europe to prove how backward their equipment is. The last sentence. William in Braveheart. Wallace's handling of British cavalry with wooden poles is a dead end for China fighters. By the way, the British actually took William who only occupied one Scotland. Wallace is called William the Great, which is true. ......

The early European cavalry fell behind us. The main reason is the backwardness of European harness. For example, the stirrups in Europe appeared in the 8th or 9th century (mainly for knights' riding guns). Horseshoe first appeared in 890 AD. The use of official saddles in Europe will not be earlier than 12 century. This kind of equipment should be used earlier in China than in Europe. The existence of vests exists in Europe. In the early days, represented by Byzantine heavy cavalry, horses were equipped with scales. The French army also provided plate armour for horses to guard against the British longbow. Personnel Armor: In the early Middle Ages, chain mail (chain mail) dominated Western Europe, while Byzantium dominated by scales (armor), and horses with heavy cavalry were also covered with armor. In the middle and late Middle Ages, plate armor (divided into German design and Italian design, usually a set weighing 40-50 kg) began to dominate. In the Battle of Bovine in 12 14, both sides invested a lot of troops, but the casualties were surprisingly few. Proved the strong defense of plate armor. In the application of tactics, Europe takes cavalry as the assault force, mainly knights, emphasizing less but better (because the equipment is expensive and the number of knights is small). And many times it exists in the form of "reserve team". Attack the enemy at the right time and under the right conditions, or attack the enemy's wings. In the face of disciplined and well-equipped enemies, there are usually surprise attacks, tactical retreats, surprise attacks and retreats. For example, in Hastings in 1066, Norman cavalry raided all day, and finally had to rely on fake surrender to attract British infantry to catch up, thus confusing the shield wall lineup of British infantry. There is a overlooking scene in the movie "The Kingdom of Heaven", and it can be clearly seen that the cavalry of the Crusaders are changing in the impact formation. Very classic.