The Chinese nation is not belligerent, but it is never afraid of any provocations from foreign nationalities.
As the only Chinese civilization on the earth that has lasted for thousands of years, the reason why it can have a long history and endless life depends on strong military support.
From ancient times to the present, who can count the strong military forces that have appeared?
Some people excluded Tang Taizong Li Shimin's "Xuan Soap Cavalry", Western Xia's "Iron Harrier", Jin's "Iron Floating Tu" and "Kidnapped Horse", and so on, and the Li Mu Cavalry Corps of the Zhao State during the Warring States Period, the Wang Qi Corps of the Qin State, the Han Xin Corps of the Western Han Dynasty, the Huo ZhiYi Legion of emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Seven Thousand White Robe Army of Chen Qing under Emperor Liangwu during the Southern Dynasty, the Yue Family Army of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Timid Xue Army of Genghis Khan, the Chang Yu Chun Corps of the Ming Dynasty, the Guanning Iron Horse of the Late Ming Dynasty, and the Eight Banner Army of the Great Qing Dynasty, and listed the ten major victorious legions in Chinese history.
The other nine corps of these ten corps have recorded a record for all to see, except for the Guanning Iron Horse at the end of the Ming Dynasty, which is shrouded in a sea of clouds and fog, making it impossible for people to see clearly.
As a result of this phenomenon, some people say that the main reason is that Guan Ning Iron Horse was once a sworn enemy of the Eight Banner Army, and finally aided and abetted abuse and participated in Wu Sangui's rebellion, so in the records of the Qing Dynasty, it has always been demeaning more and less praise, resulting in posterity knowing very little about it.
Even the trainer of the Guan Ning Iron Horse was, he didn't know anything.
First of all, "Guan" refers to Shanhaiguan, "Ning" refers to Ningyuan, and Guanning Iron Horse refers to the Daming cavalry that travels from Shanhaiguan to Ningyuan and other Liaotu.
And because the Guanning Defensive Line was planned and built by Sun Chengzong in Liaodong Province, many people mistakenly believe that the Guanning Iron Horse was reorganized and trained by Sun Chengzong.
However, according to Emperor Xizong's records, in the sixth year of the Apocalypse, Yuan Chonghuan wrote to the Liaozhen Army, which was based on the rated organization of Sun Chengzong, and did not have the Guanning Iron Horse.
Because Yuan Chonghuan was Sun Chengzong's successor, people turned to think that he was the builder of the Guanning Iron Horse.
This is also wrong.
At present, the historical materials of the Ming and Qing dynasties cannot find the record of Yuan Chonghuan's revision of the Guanning Army--if there is a revision of the organization, it must be reported to the imperial court, otherwise there will be no military salary.
This shows that the appearance of Guan Ning Iron Horse has nothing to do with Yuan Chonghuan.
The term "Guanning Iron Horse" first appeared in Chongzhen's ninth year's "Hebing Li Yan Shu Shu", which recorded: "Guan Ning Iron Horse is known as an enemy, and Zu Dashou's new viceroy ordered him to become a division... The deputy generals of Yi Handing were garrisoned, such as Sang Ang, Namuqi Qiqing, and Qiataji, and they were all destroyed, and they were indestructible in their attacks. ”
This article is a record of The Ninth Year of Chongzhen's Reign When Zu Dashou led Guan Ning Tie to ride into The Pass to deal with the Qing army's detour into Kou, which revealed three messages:
First, the Guanning Iron Horse is indeed a fierce soldier, deeply feared by the enemy.
2. The Guanning Iron Horse was a unit that was adjusted and revised after Zu Dashou became the new governor.
Third, most of the generals in the Guanning Iron Horse were "Yiren", that is, Mongols.
Wu Weiye's "Suikou Jiluo", written in the ninth year of Shunzhi, also mentions the Guanning Iron Horse, which is written: "First the military department told Zhongzhou Qiye with Kechen Changyu, and discussed the transfer of 25,000 western soldiers, 18,000 northern soldiers, 21,000 southern soldiers, and 2,000 Guanning iron horses. ”
The background of this article is that in the eighth year of Ming Chongzhen, Li Zicheng attacked Henan, the Ming Dynasty was eroded, and Chang Ziyu, a soldier, suggested to the Chongzhen Emperor to transfer troops from the four sides to suppress it. The "Guanning Iron Horse" mentioned in it is a two-thousand cavalry unit led by the Liao generals Zu Kuan and Zu Dale, which are respectively subordinate to the left and right battalions of the Guanning Sequence.
The History of Ming records that Zu Kuan was a Hu man, and was then the family member of Zu Dashou, the commander-in-chief of the Liaodong Army; Zu Dale was Zu Dashou's cousin.
The two men were ordered to enter the customs and treated the peasant rebel army with sharp edges, as if they were destroying the decay. Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Xuanda, praised him for this: "The soldiers who aided and suppressed were the most vigorous in Liaoding, and the most thieves were killed." ”
The Suikou Jiluo then records: "Both families are bound to ride iron horses on the edge, and they also raise the Falling River to destroy the front, and the qiao kan is fierce and fierce, and the second general often relies on it to make meritorious achievements." ”
Yuanbian refers to the cavalry stationed at the border; "Tuoluohe" is a Hu word for Mongol Yiren; that is, it is a cavalry unit mixed with Mongols.
Subsequently, the Ming Dynasty Northern Sketch also has records of Zu Dashou's surrender to the family and the formation of a good fighting army.
The explanation of "Descending Yi" in the "Northern Sketch of the Ming Dynasty" is: "Those who descend Yi, the people who descend the Yi in the north of the mountain are near Liaoyang, and those outside China are the people who descend Yi, and those outside the Ming Dynasty are Qingdi, sandwiched between the two countries, so Liaodong is called the person who is sandwiched, and is forced by the Qing Dynasty to belong to China, called The Descending Yi, who controls the strings and learns to fight." ”
The "Ming Dynasty Northern Sketch" also mentions that Zu Dashou's nephew Wu Sangui had "three thousand Yi Ding iron horses" under his command, and all dared to fight, and Jianzhou was afraid of it.
The "Yiding Iron Horse" is also Yiren, and combined with the relationship between Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui, it is not difficult to deduce that the troops composed of Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui's "Yiding Iron Horse" are actually the same unit, that is, the "Guanning Iron Horse" mentioned in the "Suikou Jiluo".
For this team, Tan Qian's "Guoliang" is also called "Guan Liao Iron Horse", which also indicates that it is composed of Yi han people.
The most important thing is that the "Ming and Qing Historical Materials" clearly recorded that around March of the first year of Chongzhen, about 100,000 Mongol tribes submitted to the Ming court and were placed near Jinzhou, and the Liaozhen generals recruited a large number of elite and good warriors to serve as family members. Zu Dashou, the commander-in-chief of Jinzhou at the time, directly reorganized some of the Mongols into the descending left and right battalions, with the Mongol tribal leaders as generals, and became an elite army under his direct command.
It can be seen from this that the so-called "Guanning Iron Horse" is actually a battalion of Mongol Yiding-based generals under the Zu Dashou family, the chief military officer of Liaodong Town, and can also be called "Zujia Army".
Later, according to actual needs, the Guanning Iron Horse was divided into three parts, part of which was under the command of Zu Dashou, part of which was under the command of Wu Sangui, and some of which was transferred into Guannei to suppress liukou.
The Guanning Iron Horse, which was transferred to Guannei to suppress Liu Kou, was later completely destroyed in the battle against Li Zicheng, and zu Dashou surrendered after the Battle of Songjin, and the Guanning Iron Horse under his command was used by the Qing court and became an important part of the Han Eight Banners.
Although Wu Sangui's troops also fought against the Qing soldiers on the Front Line of Ningyuan for a period of time, after the change of Jiashen, they also surrendered to the Qing and became a strong force for killing the Southern Ming anti-Qing forces.