In some ancient war movies and television dramas, we often see such a scene, that is, when one army blows the offensive horn, a bunch of people rush forward, they go forward and follow, fearless, and every soldier is eager to rush to the front, like a crazy beast.
Xiaobian has always had a doubt, that is, is the ancient war really like this? Knowing that rushing to the front is easy to become cannon fodder, why are so many people scrambling to charge?
In fact, the ancient war is indeed like this, generally the first row of soldiers are veterans with fairly mature combat experience. The recruits in the back are also eager to rush to the first, and no one has ever thought of retreating. There are three reasons for this.
The first one, which you must easily guess, is that if the war is won, if the number of enemies killed is equally large, the soldier who rushes to the first place will receive far more rewards than the soldiers behind. Most of the ancient wars were fought Chinese Chinese, why did this group of soldiers still work so hard, born into death? Isn't it better to earn more military pay and support your family?
Moreover, ancient wars were mostly based on hand-to-hand combat, and even if they rushed to the first place, there would be no current situation of blocking bullets. Even if the crossbow was fired from the opposite side, the first row would not suffer any damage. Physics tells us that the ancient bow and arrow did not have such a long range, generally firing at a 45-degree angle to the sky, allowing the arrow to go through a parabola to maximize its range.
Since it was a parabola, the first row was certainly not the hardest hit, but the middle and last soldiers were the worst. By the time the two armies met each other, the archers had long since lost their combat significance, so the soldiers in the first row were not afraid of bows and arrows at all.
The second reason is to be able to remember the military industry, as mentioned earlier, the ancients rarely talked about national patriotism when fighting wars. Everyone is Han Chinese, Han People fight Han People, or Han People fight ethnic minorities, to put it bluntly, it is still infighting. Therefore, in addition to earning money to support the family, there is a more direct purpose of galloping on the battlefield, that is, to make a name for itself, as long as the first world war becomes famous, it is not a problem to add officials to the knighthood.
For example, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the system of the Qin State was the military merit system. Qin soldiers liked to cut the ears of the enemy when fighting, and only whoever cut the ears the most could get the most rewards and even be promoted to general. Basically, class mobility is impossible to achieve, and there is only one way for soldiers at the bottom to flow to the upper level. And under this incentive mechanism, which soldier does not rush forward?
The third reason is to win the war, as we all know, in ancient times, when two armies fought, the key factor that determined success or failure was often morale. As long as the morale is enough, even if the strength is a little worse, it is not a problem.
And what motivates the most? There is no doubt that it is definitely the spearhead of the charge, and only when the soldiers scramble for the first row will morale remain at a high level. After all, no matter how to say that the march is fighting, even if the soldiers want to make a name for themselves and get paid, winning the war is the most fundamental, so in order to win, in order to improve morale, they must be riveted and rush forward when they break their heads.
Seeing this, I believe that all readers also understand why in ancient wars, the first row of soldiers had to rush forward. In other words, you, in that era, that battlefield, will also go forward without hesitation, right?