Editor's note: In foreign movies, infantry against cavalry charge are all using spear arrays to resist the enemy, but in ancient China, there are often records of using various swords and axes against cavalry. For example, the strange knife that once spread on the Internet was said to be like a wall, and it could shatter people and horses. But in the face of cavalry charge, the length of the mounted gun is longer, and will it not be stabbed by the riding gun before the knife is swung? At the same time, the sword and axe need to wield space, and it is impossible to arrange dense formations, and loose formations are obviously easier to be cut through by cavalry. So how did ancient China rely on swords and axes to counter the cavalry?
Regarding the legend of the Strange Knife Breaking Cavalry on the Internet, the original text of the so-called Strange Knife "People and Horses Are Broken" that is used to talk about is recorded in the Old Book of Tang: "The thief Li Guiren initially challenged him with the number of sharp divisions, and our division gathered arrows and chased them away, and the thief army was so big that it forced me to chase after the horse, and broke into my battalion, and my division was in chaos." Guo Ziyi said: "Today's events, if you don't fight with your body, fight a decisive battle, and hope for his life." Otherwise, our army will have nothing to lose. "SiYe is a stripper, the long knife stands in front of the battle and shouts, when the Siye knife, the people and horses are broken, killing more than a dozen people, and the lineup is stationed." The soldiers of the former army came out with long swords and marched like a wall. He was the first to ascend to his destiny, and he was destroyed. "The destruction of people and horses recorded here is only Li Siye's personal description of bravery, and the strange knife is not used to break the cavalry, but is only attacked by the enemy into the camp, and Li Siye organizes people to counterattack in a column." In the New Book of Tang, in the same period of history, there is not even a description of people and horses being broken: "The thief chief Li Guiren supported the fine riding of the thin battle, the Wang Shi was driven away, the camp was not reached, the thief went out, covered the horse, and ravaged the Wang Shi, so the chaos could not be fought." Si Ye said of Ziyi: "If you don't die today and take a lifetime, then the army has no class." "That is, holding a long knife, shouting out before the battle, killing dozens of people, the formation is reorganized." The two thousand foot soldiers blocked with strange knives and long axes, and they were moving forward. "When the enemy army invaded the camp, Li Siye organized a formation, and the mo knife and the long ke axe were only used to block the door, and it was already difficult to charge the cavalry in the camp, and the mo knife was not used to counter the cavalry weapon.
The Tang Dynasty Soldiers' Book records the use of the strange knife in this way, and the General Dictionary Volume 152 reads: "And in the city, with wood as a shed, a team of soldiers was used as a long-handled iron hook, a strange knife, a cone, and an axe, and they were ready to do whatever they wanted." If the enemy climbs the female wall and waits for him to come out, ten hooks are thrown into the city, and the axe helps. "This is for defending the city. "General Dictionary Volume 157": "The deputy of the team stands behind the soldiers, carries a strange knife, and those who watch the soldiers do not enter will be beheaded." "This is for overseeing the war. The same volume also records: "Crossbowmen of all armies, as many as they are trained." Fifty men were a team, one with a crossbow and fifty arrows, each with a sword, and a strange knife and a stick, each in front of the army's team, and the geese were separated, and the crossbows were raised, and the thieves went to the one hundred and fifty steps of civil war, and fired crossbows and arrows in unison. If the thief comes to force, he will stop the crossbow twenty steps away, hold a knife and stick, and fight from the front of the battle front and other teams, and the offender will be beheaded. "This is a crossbowman, but also a counter-charge, obviously can only be used to fight infantry." There was no mention of the strange knife against the cavalry.
The long axe used with the strange knife was also once said to be able to break the cavalry, but the long axe was never used alone, and the Song Dynasty also used the long axe, and the "History of Song" recorded: "During the Fang War, Wushu was white robes, riding armored horses, with three thousand tooth soldiers to supervise the battle, and the soldiers were heavily armored, the number "iron float map"; wearing iron pockets, Zhou Za embellished with long eaves." The three of them are in the company, and they follow Weisso, and every step forward is to reject the horse, and the people who go further, and the refusal of the horse is also advanced, and it is impossible to retreat. The officers and men removed their pockets with gun marks, cut off their arms with large axes, and smashed their heads. "It can be clearly seen here that the Song army's use of the long axe was not lined up alone, but also used in coordination with the spearmen. If you let the long axe stand in front of the formation to resist the impact, the long axe can't do it.
The god-like chopping knife that is rumored to be used to fight against cavalry sounds like it is specially designed to fight against cavalry, but the same slashing knife is not used to resist the impact of cavalry in front of the battle. The "History of Song" records the use of the chopping sword: "Among the pawns, they must first choose the pawns of their strength, and all of them use the chopping sword, and do not unify them with one general, such as Tang Li Siye's use of the strange knife method." When the iron kite resists, or robs my position, or tramples on my footsteps, he uses a sword to advance, which is one of the victories. "It can also be seen here that the use of the Song Dynasty chopper is also the enemy cavalry has fallen into the infantry formation when the enemy cavalry charged, at which time the chopper squad will go up and cut the cavalry that has lost speed. After all, the specially selected elite infantry with great strength and strength were used to resist the charge at the front, and the casualties were too serious. Knife and axe weapons are obviously less effective at resisting frontal charges than long guns, and when the cavalry loses speed, the knife and axe hand inserts itself on the side and chops the cavalry from the side with the knife axe, which is obviously far more efficient than stabbing with a long gun. For cavalrymen who have lost speed, it is not much harder to chop from the side with a knife and axe than to cut down a tree.
Finally, there are rattan knives, and there are many records of rattan knives being used to cut horse legs, but also rattan short knives are not used to carry cavalry charges alone. Qi Jiguang recorded in the "Record of Military Training" that he used a rattan knife to cut off the horse's leg: "The soldiers hold a card in one hand and a waist knife in the other, which is the system of Yue Fei's side card Mazha knife." Ling Jun bowed his head and cut only the horse's foot, and used the wushu to kidnap the horse, yes, and although its system was slightly different, its use was one. The soldiers of this card will be held with the wolf's stake as a bully, cover this short weapon, can not be an enemy horse, with a reed to reject their horses, with a card out of the raft to cut off their horses' feet. In addition, it is recorded in the "Long Gun Solution": "Now that you can see it, you can fight with the enemy, cover the pen as the front, the rattan card is under, and the front has a guard to go to a zhangyu, and the short weapon cannot be poked and immediately, so why hurt?" If a man has to poke a spear in the air and stab the throat of a horse, he shall not enter our ranks, but he shall be able to reach the other body first, so he shall not be worried or weak. If the enemy horses come to me in a flock, there is no sign in front of me, and the gun is used to deserve it, and the horse is poked, and there is a loss in between, it will not be fully profitable. "Therefore, the formation is also complete with spears and wolf wagons to block the cavalry charge head-on, and after the horse's speed is lowered, it uses the rattan knife to cut the horse's leg." If it is only a rattan short knife to resist the cavalry, I am afraid that it will be trampled to death by the cavalry.
In the Qing Dynasty, there are also records of tiger-clad rattan soldiers fighting against cavalry, which was in March of the seventh year of Qing Daoguang. At that time, Zhang Ge rebelled, and the Tiger Cloth Tengpai soldiers accompanied the army to quell the rebellion, recording: "After Zhang Ge was defeated twice in Arbat and Shabudur Zhuang, he was ordered to return to zhuang to become soldiers for men over the age of fifteen, and those who did not want to kill immediately. The 100,000 people gathered in the Embers and stubbornly resisted at Awabat Village. On the 28th, the Qing army entered Akwabate and returned to the village. Changling and others first sent troops to attack left and right, and the enemy deployed troops on Oka, shaped like goose wings, and arranged to resist. The elderly and others also supervised the horse infantry, divided into two wings, cast spray canisters, and marched in unison. The enemy soldiers burst into flames and smoke, and the deadly force rushed to resist. Chang Ling and others ordered the tiger-clad tiger hat soldiers to jump and dance the rattan card, and Zhang Ge's army and horses were in a panic and rushed. According to this record, the battle situation can be said to be very clear, the Tiger Cloth Rattan soldiers are not alone to resist the cavalry charge, but take the initiative to attack, Zhang Ge rebels are the defensive side rather than the attacking side, under the initiative of the Qing army, after the cavalry has been scattered, the Tiger Cloth Rattan soldiers rushed up to slash and kill the cavalry that has fallen into chaos, and the horses cannot run at all, so it is mainly the tiger clothes they wear to startle the horses. Instead of confronting the cavalry head-on or fending off the cavalry charge.
In fact, whether it is a long knife or a long axe, because it needs to slash space, it is impossible to form a dense formation at first, so it is too difficult for such a loose formation to resist the cavalry charge. Frontal resistance to the cavalry still depends on long guns, can be arranged in a dense formation, cavalry can not easily rush in, if the other side is riding and shooting, the long gun can also put another row of shield hands in front of the shield to cover the cover. The long knife and axe cannot release people in front of them, and it is easy to hit the opponent with a round of long-range attacks first. Only after the lancers block the opposing cavalry, because the spear is difficult to cause rapid damage, the knife and axe hand side kill the cavalry is the most effective. Therefore, according to the online game, the knife and axe hand is the DPS class, the spearman is T, and only when the T pulls the monster, the DPS can come forward to output.
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